After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
