Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed 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”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist 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 latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
