After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
