Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. 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 apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, 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. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
