Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance 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 were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
