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After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

The Master of Glitz

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator 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 mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.