Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed 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 bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one falters.
