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Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

The King of Sequins

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Transformation

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.