After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished 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 significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
