🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Master of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded 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 fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.