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After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

A Master of Sequins

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.