After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
