From Vanity Fair · Marisa Meltzer · · 2m
Bob Mackie, the man who dressed the divas
The designer who put Cher in sheer black and Carol Burnett in a curtain rod has died at 87.
In brief
The designer who put Cher in sheer black and Carol Burnett in a curtain rod has died at 87. Mackie spent 60 years making clothes that were events in themselves, and he never wanted to do anything else. Originally reported by Vanity Fair.
The sequin king is gone
Bob Mackie died at 87. His family said he fulfilled his dream of being a fashion and costume designer, which is all he ever wanted to do. No cause of death has been released.
“his dream of being a Fashion and Costume Designer, which is all he ever wanted to do”
Beads by hand, always
The Emmy and Tony winner said his one real extravagance was hand embroidery and fully hand-beaded gowns. Madonna wore a white beaded strapless version on the April 1991 Vanity Fair cover.
“hand embroidery, an entire hand-beaded gown”
Decades with Cher
He dressed her through The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and beyond, including the see-through black dress she wore to the 1988 Oscars, the night she won best actress for Moonstruck.
A dress in the Smithsonian
For Carol Burnett's "Went With the Wind!" sketch, he built a gown out of a window curtain with the rod still in it. The joke landed so hard the dress now sits in the National Museum of American History.
A client list of legends
Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Elton John, Britney Spears and the Jackson Five all wore Mackie. He dressed divas of every kind.
Hired at 22 to draw strippers
He quit art school and walked into Paramount, where Edith Head asked if he knew how to do strippers. Her other artists drew matching coats and suits and would not touch the showgirl work.
“Do you know how to do strippers?”
Trouble in the house
A 1993 Vanity Fair piece by Nikki Finke caught him as his Hollywood pull faded, detailing psychics, an office blessing, a Gambino family loan, and dresses given away to settle debts.
“I suppose I saw the business side of my company as just one big distraction”
Happy with what he got
Sabrina Carpenter wore the Madonna dress to the 2024 VMAs, and Miley Cyrus wore Mackie at the Grammys. Asked what he would come back as, he said he would not choose.
“I wouldn't choose, I am happy with what I got!”
The key point
Mackie spent 60 years making clothes that were events in themselves, and he never wanted to do anything else.
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