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Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, 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 appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

A Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.