After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon 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 glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
