Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
