🔗 Share this article

Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.