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After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Coveted Classic Style

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.