After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
