After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with 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 feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
