Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
