Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
