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Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A King of Sequins

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed 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 singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed 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 popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.