Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
