Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image 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 escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
