Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
