After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s 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 seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
