Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, 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, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
