After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled 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 seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
