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After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

The Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon 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 sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.