After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
