After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 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 moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
