After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
