After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
