After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer references in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
