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Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A King of Glitz

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy 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 steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one falters.