Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos 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, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
