Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
