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Following a three-decade 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 intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

A Sultan of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director 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, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 popular item among collectors.

“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

The Allure of Escape

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.