Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
