Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a new documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
