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Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

A Master of Sequins

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view 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 newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

The Coveted Classic Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City

She says this figure are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Appeal of Transformation

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.