After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator 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 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage 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 performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
