After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon 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 backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
