Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area 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 recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
