Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
