After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect 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 Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
