Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted 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 grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan 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 shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
