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Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Master of Glitz

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.