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Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

The Master of Sparkle

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.