After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star 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, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
