After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
