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After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A King of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created 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 knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to 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 bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Coveted Vintage Style

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.