After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert 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 explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
