After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
