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After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

The King of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.