After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used 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 gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
