After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, 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 sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator 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, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of 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 hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
