After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price 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 favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
