Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro 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 beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 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 basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
