After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather 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 embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
