After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable 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 performance area from the green rooms 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. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
