After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
