Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. 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 designed 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 earlier in the year 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 collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
