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After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

The Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather 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 pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Classic Style

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created 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, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.