After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think 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. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, 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 glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
