Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering 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 adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
