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After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The Master of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Vintage Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Escape

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.