After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic 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 sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos 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 dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.
