Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic 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 titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
