Following a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors 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, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial 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 actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
