After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
