Bob Mackie, fashion designer and costumer to the stars, dead at 87
American designer was dubbed the Sultan of Sequins, the Rajah of Rhinestones and the Guru of Glitter
Bob Mackie, the fashion designer whose visually provocative Hollywood style defined glamour for the 1970s — including putting Carol Burnett in some of her kookiest getups and Cher in her raciest ones, died Monday.
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style → dub → ones
"He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a fashion and costume designer, which is all he ever wanted to do," read a statement on his social media accounts.
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statement → live → accounts
"His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.
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genius → live → world
"
Dubbed the "Designer to the Stars," Mackie won nine Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and was nominated for three Oscars, including one for Barbra Streisand's Funny Lady, in which she wore a sheer batwing gown.
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she → dub → gown
He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Science's Hall of Fame in 2002.
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He → induct → 2002
He designed gowns for Madonna, Streisand, Sharon Stone, Diana Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and concert costumes for Pink.
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He → design → Pink
When Marilyn Monroe delivered a breathy, seductive take on Happy Birthday at a fundraiser for U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the Democratic National Committee, she did it in a sheer, beaded gown that Mackie dreamed up in a sketch.
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Mackie → deliver → sketch
Influence felt today
His influence can be seen in the styles of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.
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influence → feel → Jenner
His archival pieces are worn today by the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy, Miley Cyrus and Zendaya, the latter who wore a Mackie gown to honour Cher at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
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who → wear → ceremony
When Taylor Swift wanted to look like a showgirl on the cover of her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, she turned to some Mackie originals.
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she → want → originals
But he had a simple motto: "You don't try to change anybody, you just try to make them look better than ever," he told The Associated Press in 2018.
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he → have → 2018
Tributes came from fellow designers and those lucky enough to wear his outfits.
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Tributes → come → outfits
Actor Kristin Chenoweth called him a "legend" and designer Isaac Mizrahi wrote, simply, "heartbroken."
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Mizrahi → call → him
Actor Alyssa Milano called him "one of the best that ever was" and Canadian model Mikhaila (Coco) Rocha wrote that "his clothes had wit, drama, fantasy and joy."
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clothes → call → wit
On Broadway, Mackie dressed the casts of On the Town in 1971 and Moon Over Buffalo in 1995.
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Mackie → dress → 1995
He also created costumes for Burnett in the revue Putting It Together, Debbie Reynolds in Debbie in 1976, Liza Minnelli in Minnelli on Minnelli in 1999 and, most recently, the cast of The Cher Show, winning his Tony Award.
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He → create → Award
Mackie was from Southern California and embraced the idea of Hollywood movie glamour as a young child, inspired by Technicolor musicals.
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Mackie → embrace → musicals
He would dream elaborate costumes for his mother and sister and sketch them, and he was active in costume and set design of his high school plays.
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he → dream → plays
He went to Pasadena City College to study advertising and illustration, and then costume design at L.A.'s Chouinard Art Institute.
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He → go → Institute
He also grew up a fan of all the variety-show and pop stars of the 1950s and '60s, especially their glitzy wardrobes.
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He → grow → 1950s
He went to work for costume designer Edith Head, then got the gig for The Carol Burnett Show.
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He → go → Show
Collaborations with Cher, Carol Burnett
He and Burnett had a close friendship and collaborated on memorable characters such as Nora Desmond, Eunice and her take on Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind — called Starlet O'Hara — wearing her green curtain dress on its rods.
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He → have → rods
"I love doing funny things," Mackie said in a 1999 interview with the AP.
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Mackie → do → AP
"One week I'd have to make Carol an unattractive postal worker, and who knows what I'd have to do the next."
Mackie's TV work continued on The Sonny & Cher Show, after Cher had guest-starred on Burnett's show and took a liking to him.
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Cher → have → him
He had said that her Laverne character, with her leopard-print jumpsuit and dangling earrings, was one of his favourites.
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character → say → favourites
He and Cher took a much sexier turn when she moved to movies and was invited to the Academy Awards.
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she → take → Awards
All those beaded, belly-baring numbers she'd wear on the stuffy red carpets came from Mackie.
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she → bar → Mackie
Mackie attended the 1974 Met Gala with Cher on his arm dressed in what is perhaps one of the most famous so-called naked dresses of all time: a sheer beaded gown with white feathered sleeves and a white feathered skirt.
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what → attend → sleeves
She and the dress ended up on the cover of Time magazine.
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She → end → magazine
Looks like the 1986 beaded spiderweb — worn with complementary Mohawk — and the barely-there gown she wore for her best actress win in 1988 turned heads and set tongues wagging at the time.
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she → wear → time
"The outfits are sometimes mistaken for fashion, but they're costumes, like for a character in a play," Mackie told the AP in 1999.
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Mackie → mistake → 1999
"I want people to have fun.
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people → want → fun
I want people to say, 'Wasn't that interesting?' or 'Wasn't that wild?'"
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that → want → ?
A Mackie dress Cher wore in 1975 was auctioned off in 2024 for $101,600 US — 25 times its original estimate.
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Cher → wear → US
Unimpressed with more recent fashion
Bob Mackie had mixed feelings on the naked dresses of today
Mackie had some retail success in the 1980s and '90s, launching a ready-to-wear line in 1982 that would ultimately land on the runway at New York Fashion Week, and he was an early partner of QVC.
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he → have → QVC
Naked dresses only got more popular but Mackie later in life was unimpressed.
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Mackie → get → life
"You watch awards shows and say, ‘Oh, cover up!
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Honey, I don't need to see all of that!'
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I → need → that
It gets to be so vulgar, you don't even want to look at it anymore," he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2024.
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he → get → 2024
"I was so bored watching the Met ball — everyone exposing everything, the same lookalike dress — I shut it off.
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I → watch → it
…and 17 more, not listed.
