After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and young adult 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 translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
