Following a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. 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, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
