After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar 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 stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
