After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
