After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
