Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed 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 hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
