After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
