Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
