After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.
