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Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Glitz

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon 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 has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 hit among fashion collectors.

“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City

She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Transformation

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.