After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut 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 perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. 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 theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
