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After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

The Master of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For millennial and modern 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 actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer 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 trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.