After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. 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, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress 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 lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
