After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, 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, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
