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Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Glitz

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from Tradition

These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Coveted Classic Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody falters.