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After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

A Sultan of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, 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 shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City

Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.