After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist 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 latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
