Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio 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 historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
