After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer 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, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
