After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks 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 latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
