Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
