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After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.

The Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.