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Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Sultan of Glitz

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Classic Style

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Escape

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.