Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
