After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
