🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The King of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

A Musical Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says showgirls 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 no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.