Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
