After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
