Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
