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Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

The Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Mainstream Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

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

The Highly Sought-After Classic 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 actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.