After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
