After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed 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, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
