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After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Sequins

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective 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 desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.