After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
