After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
