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After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A King of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, 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, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon 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. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.