Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
