After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective 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 seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s 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 today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
