After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining 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 back.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
