Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
