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Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

The King of Glitz

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance 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 grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Coveted Vintage Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.