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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

A Sultan of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung 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. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.