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After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City

Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer references in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.