Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
