Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
