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After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A Master of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny 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 stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Coveted Classic Look

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. 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 made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.