Following a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
