After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made 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 fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy 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 Icon of the City
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
