After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.