Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
