After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect 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 whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 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 start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
