After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 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 entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
