After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing 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 metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
