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After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The Sultan of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan 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 shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.