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After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

A King of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City

Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.