Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of 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, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform 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 went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
