Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
