After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created 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 trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
