After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle 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 disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated 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 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. 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 make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
