After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
