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After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The King of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created 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 earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas

She says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Transformation

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered 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 underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.