Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
