After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
