Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
