Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to 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 new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
