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After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

A Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, 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, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished 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 private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.