After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
