After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut 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 glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made 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 significant price to buy the Mackie fringed 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 bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
