Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded 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, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
