After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
