After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase 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 went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
