Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer references in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
