After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
