Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
