🔗 Share this article

After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from History

These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

She says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, 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, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.