After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
