Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple 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 craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
