After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created 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 private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
