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Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Master of Sequins

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered 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, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City

The expert says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Appeal of Transformation

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one falters.