After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
