After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed 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 unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination 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 represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
