After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
