Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created 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 looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
