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After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

A Sultan of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.