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After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

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

The King of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount 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 trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.