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After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Vintage Style

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created 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 earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City

The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.