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After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

The Sultan of Glitz

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with 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 Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

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

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.