After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking 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, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps 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 recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
