Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer 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 collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
