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Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue 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.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title 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 Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City

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

An Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like 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 lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.