After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, 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 umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered 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 Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
