Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
