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Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A King of Sparkle

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s 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 showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.