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After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

The Sultan of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, 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 tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco 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 mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term 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 young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry 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 went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.