After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
