Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
