After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
