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After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The Sultan of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Vintage Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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 classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City

Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in 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 green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.