After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
