After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
