After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
