After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, 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 popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered 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 Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
