Fashion Designer Bob Mackie Blown Away By Taylor Swift Wearing One of His Iconic Looks for ‘Showgirl’ Cover: ‘Kind of Shocked’
Beloved Hollywood fashion designer Bob Mackie is over the moon that Taylor Swift is repping one of his famously rhinestone-encrusted creations on the cover of her The Life of a Showgirl album. Speaking to E! News, Mackie, 85, said he was “kind of shocked” that the singer picked a real-life showgirl outfit he designed for the face of her 12th LP.
“Because I was thinking Taylor Swift to be this little girl who used to write songs about fairytale princesses,” said Mackie. “She’s amazing and much taller than I thought she would be and older than I thought she was. I thought she was still 14 or something. Not true!”
“Sultan of Sequins” Mackie, whose legendarily sparkly, jewel-encrusted costumes have been worn by everyone from Diana Ross to Elton John, Whitney Houston, Miley Cyrus, Judy Garland, Beyoncé, Liza Minelli and, perhaps most famously, Cher, paid tribute to the cover shot in an August Instagram post describing its provenance.
“The ensemble worn by @taylorswift was designed by Bob Mackie for the ‘Jewel Finale’ of the Las Vegas show Jubilee! Produced by Don Arden; the show featured over 1,000 costumes based on Florenz Ziegfeld stage shows with elaborate couture costumes worn by the showgirls,” he wrote. “It was the longest running showgirl spectacular in history and ran from 1981 to 2016.”
Mackie also provided some of the details of the the elaborate get-up and an image of one of the Vegas performers wearing a version of it, explaining, “The bra, undergarments, and armbands are all French wirework and backed with a blush fabric for a nude illusion. The bra and underwear have set stones and drops at the under-bust of the bra and the waistline of the underwear.”
