Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod 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 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 earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high 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 lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
