After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl 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 realm where no one misses a mark.
