After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
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 “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed 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 previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
