After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. 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 perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
