After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount 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 hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
