Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, 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 sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
