🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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.

“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.