After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
