After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, 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 glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
