Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. 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, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
