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After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The Master of Sparkle

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled 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 danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

She says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.