After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
