After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
