After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress 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. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage 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 made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
