After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod 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 inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
