After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
