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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

The Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas

She says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Escape

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 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 leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.