After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created 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 knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
