After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
