Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
