Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. 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 shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical 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 music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
