After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, 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.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
