🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Sequins

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

A Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Look

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Transformation

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 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 recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.