Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
