After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to 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, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer 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, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
