Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
