After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
