Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
