After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing 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 shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, 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 glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created 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 earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels 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 underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
