After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
