After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, 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 enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan 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 sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated 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 Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
