Following a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view 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 newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute 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 created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
