Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl 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 Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
