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Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

A King of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist 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, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.