After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and dance 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 on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya 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 reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
