After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. 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 perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
