Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger 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 see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure 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, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
