Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
