After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal 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 zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
