After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s 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 seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
