After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $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 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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 trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, 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 integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
