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After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

The King of Glitz

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Classic Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.