Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made 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 private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
