After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called 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 Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
