After a three-decade stint 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 designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
