Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created 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 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 knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
