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After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

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

The King of Sequins

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.