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After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Allure of Escape

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.