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After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

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

The Master of Glitz

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.