Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung 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 symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
