After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
