Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
