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Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from History

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

The Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.