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After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A Master of Sparkle

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase 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 catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.