🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

The King of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.