After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
