Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
