After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography 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 symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing 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 went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
