Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
