After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
