After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre 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 original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
