Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
