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After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The Master of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

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 bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. 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 “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.