After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive 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 media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
