After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
