After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered 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 incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy 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 exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one falters.
