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After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

The Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”

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. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.