Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical 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 – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by 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, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
