After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
