Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
