🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

The King of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded 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 hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

The expert says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.