After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed 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 called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, 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 named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
