Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due 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 rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, 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 headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
