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Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

A Sultan of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted 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 – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon 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 similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

An Allure of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.