Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
