Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
