After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
