Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed 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 desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl 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 Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
