After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten 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 theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 hit among collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are central to the imagery 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-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
