After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
