Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
