Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed 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 knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
