Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
