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After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Sultan of Glitz

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage 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 isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial 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 star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.