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After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The Master of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Coveted Classic Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

She says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.