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Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Sequins

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

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 escapism. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.