Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
