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Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

The Master of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand 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 global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic 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’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.