After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style 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. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star 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, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
