Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture 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 latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
