After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
