After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator 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 updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography 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 traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
