After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
