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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A King of Glitz

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. 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, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.