After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers 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.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
