After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
