Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to 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 previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy 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 stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
