After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
