Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator 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 mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer references in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
