Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. 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, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks 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 figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion 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 lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
