Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress 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. Later that year, another pop star 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
