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Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A Master of Sequins

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

A Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.