🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

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. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Transformation

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 shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 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 cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.