After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert 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 ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
