Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine 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 the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
