After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied 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 gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
