Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
