After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to 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 ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
