Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather 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 adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
