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Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A Master of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from Tradition

Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Allure of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.