After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble 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 were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
