After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted 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 – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created 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 significant price 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar 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 steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
