All the details on Taylor Swift’s vintage ‘Life of a Showgirl’ outfit by ‘master’ Bob Mackie

For Taylor Swift, a new album calls for a new fashion era. And to channel the glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas dancer for “The Life of a Showgirl,” she and longtime stylist Joseph Cassell Falconer turned to a true showbiz icon.

In several sparkling shots from her upcoming record’s artwork, Swift models one of legendary designer Bob Mackie’s costumes from the famous Sin City spectacular “Jubilee!” — which ran from 1981 to 2016, making it the longest-running show in Vegas history.

Dripping with rhinestones and draped with an over-the-top feather boa, the look seen on Swift is one of over 1,000 Mackie and co-designer Pete Menefee created for the razzle-dazzle revue, which was inspired by the Ziegfeld Follies of the early 1900s.

Stylist and Las Vegas native Jose Rodrigo has firsthand knowledge of Mackie’s “revolutionary, beautiful” fashions. He worked on “Jubilee!” as a dresser in the 2010s, and later borrowed from the show’s wardrobe archives for burlesque queen Dita Von Teese’s Vegas residencies and the 2024 film “The Last Showgirl,” starring Pamela Anderson.

“What truly differentiates Mackie from anybody else is that we’re looking at 40 years of these costumes being actively used, worn and archived — and yet when we dusted them off, the vibrancy, the design and the structure [was still there]. They were built with the best of the best,” Rodrigo tells Page Six Style.

“He is a master at his craft, and his designs have endured decades.”

As Mackie himself shared on Instagram Monday, Swift’s costume was worn during the “Jewel Finale” sequence of “Jubilee!”, and its bra, undergarments and armbands are constructed from French wirework with a blush fabric backing for a racy nude-illusion effect.

“There’s a reverence that goes into these costumes; something that Dita and Pam loved is that each costume still has the names of all the showgirls that have worn that costume over the years [inside],” Rodrigo says, adding that preserving those special elements as the garments underwent tailoring and repairs proved challenging.

“A lot of the archival pieces, unfortunately, through time, have lost a lot of the original accessories that used to go with them. A lot of feathers needed to be sourced, a lot of rhinestones and chains needed to be cleaned,” he recalls. (Fun fact: So many Swarovski crystals were used for the original “Jubilee!” costumes that in 1981, the year the show opened, there was a worldwide shortage of the stones.)

“The show was closed and the costumes archived for almost 10 years before Dita came in and dusted them off, so truly, the credit has to be given to her for really reviving the showgirl [aesthetic],” Rodrigo adds.

It’s possible Von Teese is also to thank for hooking Swift up with her own “Jubilee!” look; the pair previously collaborated on the Grammy winner’s “Bejeweled” music video in 2022.

“I pulled out all the stops and worked with her costume designer to pull together the right kind of wardrobe for a PG-rated version of what I do with the martini glass. We used my costume designer, Catherine D’Lish, for all of the Swarovski-crystallized looks featured,” Von Teese told Page Six Style the following year.

“You know how it is in show business; a lot of people just stick you on their mood board and are heavily ‘inspired,’ but what I loved is that [Swift] was very insistent on shining the spotlight on me, respectfully. She introduced a whole new generation to what I do, so I am very grateful for that.”

And what Von Teese and her fellow burlesque artists do isn’t easy; Rodrigo tells us authentic showgirl ensembles like those used in “Jubilee!” can weigh anywhere from 10 to 40 pounds due to those heavy embellishments, which means that getting dressed calls for a certain “choreography.”

“You can’t just slap things on,” he explains. “You start with your fishnets, and you obviously need to have a G-string underneath the fishnets. Then on top of that, you have another G-string that has all the rhinestones. Then you add the heels. It’s almost like baking; you have to add each ingredient, each accessory, to make the look.”

Which begs the question: Did noted kitchen whiz Swift and her team nail the showgirl recipe for her new album shoot?

“I don’t think they could have done a better job,” Rodrigo says.

“Everything was really, truly thoughtful, and the way that she wears everything — the way that it was styled — is, I think, true to the original. There’s still that reverence to the original design.”