Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
