Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
