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Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

The Master of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded 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 new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with 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 wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Coveted Retro Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.