After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
