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Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The Master of Sequins

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

The Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.