After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
