After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded 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 fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
