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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The King of Glitz

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.