After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
