Bob Mackie, the costume designer whose extravagant, sequin-laden creations helped define the public image of stars including Cher, Diana Ross and Carol Burnett, has died at the age of 87. His death was announced on Monday in a statement posted to his official Instagram page, which did not disclose a cause of death or specify where he had died, though The New York Times reported he died in Palm Springs, California.
“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,” the statement read. “His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.” Mackie’s career spanned more than six decades and earned him nine Emmy Awards from 32 nominations, three Academy Award nominations, and a Tony Award for his work on “The Cher Show.”
Bob Mackie Fashion Designer News: How Did Mackie Build His Reputation As A Costume Designer To The Stars?
Born Robert Gordon Mackie on 24 March 1939, in Monterey Park, California, Mackie began his career as a sketch artist working alongside legendary Paramount Studios costumer Edith Head before securing his first screen credit designing costumes for a 1962 television special. He went on to work as an assistant costume designer on “The Judy Garland Show” in the early 1960s, before designing costumes for singer and actress Mitzi Gaynor’s Las Vegas revue shows, an experience that earned him early Emmy nominations.
Mackie’s most enduring professional partnership was with Cher, a collaboration that spanned nearly six decades after the pair first met in 1967 on the set of “The Carol Burnett Show.” He went on to design hundreds of looks for the singer, including her feathered ensemble at the 1974 Met Gala and the towering feathered headdress she wore to the 1986 Academy Awards. His designs for Cher and other performers helped earn him the nickname “the Sultan of Sequins” within the industry.
Bob Mackie Fashion Designer News: What Was His Defining Work On “The Carol Burnett Show”?
Mackie served as costume designer on “The Carol Burnett Show” throughout all 11 seasons of the CBS variety programme, from 1967 to 1978, an association he continued through later Burnett reunion specials in 1991 and 1993. Burnett has previously said Mackie designed as many as 50 outfits per week during the height of the show’s production schedule.
His most celebrated creation from the series remains the curtain rod dress worn by Burnett in the “Went With the Wind” sketch, a parody of the green velvet gown Scarlett O’Hara fashions from drapes in “Gone with the Wind.” Burnett recalled that the sketch’s script called for her character simply to descend a staircase with curtains hanging on her, but Mackie proposed making the dress with the curtain rod still attached for comic effect. “I fell on the floor,” Burnett said, recalling her reaction to the idea. The costume was later donated by Mackie and Burnett to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Bob Mackie Fashion Designer News: How Have Carol Burnett And Other Collaborators Responded To His Death?
Burnett paid tribute to Mackie in a statement to USA Today on Monday, calling him a “genius” and reflecting on the breadth of his talent. “Sadness doesn’t come close to how I feel. I loved him very much,” she wrote on Instagram. “As for his genius, there are fashion designers who don’t do costumes and there are costume designers who don’t do fashion. Bob did it all. There was no one like him.”
Tributes also came from a wide circle of performers Mackie had dressed over his career. Actress Kristin Chenoweth wrote that she had been “lucky enough” to have been given one of Mackie’s gowns personally, while actress Kim Cattrall said “you never felt sexier when wearing a Bob Mackie gown.” Actress Alyssa Milano said she was “proud to have a collection of his dresses,” describing him as “one of the best that ever was.”
Bob Mackie Fashion Designer News: What Other Milestones Defined His Career In Fashion And Television?
Mackie and his longtime professional and life partner, Ray Aghayan, received the first-ever Emmy Award presented for costume design, for the 1966 NBC special “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” The pair later designed the elaborate opening sequence for “Hallelujah Hollywood,” a $3 million tribute production staged at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in 1974.
Beyond his television work, Mackie’s designs became cultural touchstones in their own right, including Elton John’s sequined Los Angeles Dodgers uniform and Donald Duck costume, and Madonna’s silver gown worn at the 1991 Academy Awards. In 1990, Mattel released the first limited-edition Bob Mackie Barbie doll, cementing his crossover into mainstream popular culture. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002.
