After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded 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 younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term 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 millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 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 entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
