After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 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 seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
