After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
