Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
