After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
