After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
