After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
