After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think 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 pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
