After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. 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, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress 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 basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
