Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter 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 rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
