After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon 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 ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title 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 younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
