Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by 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 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
