Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
