Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos 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 underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
