After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
