After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers 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 title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable 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 steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
