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Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

The King of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated 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 – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Classic Look

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 earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.