Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
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 term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
