After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
