After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
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 “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
