Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price 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 popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
