After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where no one falters.
