After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
