Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
