Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
