Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
