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After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Sultan of Glitz

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.