Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
