After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
