🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

A Sultan of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

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. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 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 Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Vintage Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City

She says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to 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 platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.