Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
