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After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided 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 new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Retro Look

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos 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 underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.