Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. 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 designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
