After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained 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 apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress 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 reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece 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 lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
