After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
