Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
