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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 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 apparently today's icons.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 hit among collectors.

“This style evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.