After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
