Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed 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 pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl 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 embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
