After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand 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 Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, 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 shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
