Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. 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 seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed 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 fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now 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 sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
