After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
