After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s teen pop 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. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where no one falters.
