After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
