After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
