After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
