Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $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 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
