Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored 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 similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
