After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing 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 fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
