After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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 trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 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 head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
