Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive 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 show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. 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 apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished 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 beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
