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After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A King of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Classic Look

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody falters.