Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation 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 captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
