Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
