Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps 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 performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
