Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently 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.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a latest docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area 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 went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
