After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication 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.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
