After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
