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Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

The King of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed 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 vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City

Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.