After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
