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Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.