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After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

A Sultan of Sequins

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one falters.