After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard 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 resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
