After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
