Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor 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, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
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 surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
