Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity 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 realm where no one falters.
