Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban 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 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
