After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
