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After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from Tradition

These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Retro Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.