After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
