After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted 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 told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed 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 Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer 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 collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While 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 remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
