After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
