For Taylor Swift, a brand new album requires a brand new trend period. And to channel the glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas dancer for “The Lifetime of a Showgirl,” she and longtime stylist Joseph Cassell Falconer turned to a real showbiz icon.
In a number of glowing photographs from her upcoming document’s paintings, Swift fashions one in every of legendary designer Bob Mackie’s costumes from the well-known Sin Metropolis spectacular “Jubilee!” — which ran from 1981 to 2016, making it the longest-running present in Vegas historical past.
Dripping with rhinestones and draped with an over-the-top feather boa, the look seen on Swift is one in every of over 1,000 Mackie and co-designer Pete Menefee created for the razzle-dazzle revue, which was impressed by the Ziegfeld Follies of the early 1900s.
Stylist and Las Vegas native Jose Rodrigo has firsthand data of Mackie’s “revolutionary, lovely” fashions. He labored on “Jubilee!” as a dresser within the 2010s, and later borrowed from the present’s wardrobe archives for burlesque queen Dita Von Teese’s Vegas residencies and the 2024 movie “The Final Showgirl,” starring Pamela Anderson.
“What actually differentiates Mackie from anyone else is that we’re taking a look at 40 years of those costumes being actively used, worn and archived — and but once we dusted them off, the vibrancy, the design and the construction [was still there]. They had been constructed with the very best of the very best,” Rodrigo tells Web page Six Fashion.
“He’s a grasp at his craft, and his designs have endured a long time.”
As Mackie himself shared on Instagram Monday, Swift’s costume was worn in the course of the “Jewel Finale” sequence of “Jubilee!”, and its bra, undergarments and armbands are constructed from French wirework with a blush material backing for a racy nude-illusion impact.
“There’s a reverence that goes into these costumes; one thing that Dita and Pam cherished is that every costume nonetheless has the names of all of the showgirls which have worn that costume over time [inside],” Rodrigo says, including that preserving these particular parts as the clothes underwent tailoring and repairs proved difficult.
“Lots of the archival items, sadly, by time, have misplaced numerous the unique equipment that used to go along with them. Lots of feathers wanted to be sourced, numerous rhinestones and chains wanted to be cleaned,” he remembers. (Enjoyable truth: So many Swarovski crystals had been used for the unique “Jubilee!” costumes that in 1981, the 12 months the present opened, there was a worldwide scarcity of the stones.)
“The present was closed and the costumes archived for nearly 10 years earlier than Dita got here in and dusted them off, so actually, the credit score needs to be given to her for actually reviving the showgirl [aesthetic],” Rodrigo provides.
It’s doable Von Teese can be to thank for hooking Swift up along with her personal “Jubilee!” look; the pair beforehand collaborated on the Grammy winner’s “Bejeweled” music video in 2022.
“I pulled out all of the stops and labored along with her costume designer to drag collectively the correct of wardrobe for a PG-rated model of what I do with the martini glass. We used my costume designer, Catherine D’Lish, for all the Swarovski-crystallized appears featured,” Von Teese instructed Web page Six Fashion the next 12 months.
“You know the way it’s in present enterprise; lots of people simply stick you on their temper board and are closely ‘impressed,’ however what I cherished is that [Swift] was very insistent on shining the highlight on me, respectfully. She launched an entire new era to what I do, so I’m very grateful for that.”
And what Von Teese and her fellow burlesque artists do isn’t straightforward; Rodrigo tells us genuine showgirl ensembles like these utilized in “Jubilee!” can weigh anyplace from 10 to 40 kilos on account of these heavy gildings, which implies that getting dressed requires a sure “choreography.”
“You possibly can’t simply slap issues on,” he explains. “You begin together with your fishnets, and also you clearly must have a G-string beneath the fishnets. Then on high of that, you have got one other G-string that has all of the rhinestones. Then you definitely add the heels. It’s virtually like baking; you need to add every ingredient, every accent, to make the look.”
Which begs the query: Did famous kitchen whiz Swift and her staff nail the showgirl recipe for her new album shoot?
“I don’t suppose they may have accomplished a greater job,” Rodrigo says.
“Every thing was actually, actually considerate, and the best way that she wears every part — the best way that it was styled — is, I believe, true to the unique. There’s nonetheless that reverence to the unique design.”
