After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult 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 actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
