After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed 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 private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be 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 look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
