After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery 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 showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
