After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
