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Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.