Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
