After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
