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Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

The Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created 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 fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.