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Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

A King of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.