Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
