After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
