Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original 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 called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
