After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
