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Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

The Master of Sparkle

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. 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 even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.