🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A Master of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.