After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
