Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum 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 series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
