Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
