After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
