Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
