After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
