Dear Grim Reaper, can you please lay off the camp fashion icons for a while? The loss of Dolly Parton was bad enough, but to lose the great Bob Mackie just three weeks later makes us wonder if you have something against rhinestones, glamour, and joy.
Bob Mackie was famous for creating exuberant and fantastical stage looks for many of the 20th century’s biggest stars including Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bernadette Peters, Bette Midler, Mitzi Gaynor, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, RuPaul, and, of course, Cher.
Bob Mackie with Cher at the Premiere of ‘Naked Illusion’
He got his start in Hollywood sketching for costume designers Jean Louis and Edith Head. Although it is Jean Louis who is credited with creating Marilyn Monroe’s famous 1962 “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress, his design was based on a sketch by Mackie. “It was a very early job,” Mackie told People in 2025. “[Designer Jean Louis] wouldn’t tell me what it was for. He just said, ‘It’s for Marilyn.’ And I went, ‘Oh, okay,’ but he wouldn’t tell me what the deal was.”
In 1967, Carol Burnett chose Mackie to design the costumes for her his variety show, The Carol Burnett Show.
In the 1970s, he began working with Cher, first on “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” which ran from 1971 to 1974. He costumed her post-divorce varitey show, which ran from 1975-1976, and created countless iconic looks for her in the following decades.
He started designing ready-to-wear in the 1980s and created a line of clothing and home furnishings for QVC in the 1990s.
In 2019, he won a Tony for costume design for his work on The Cher Show and in 2024 The Daily Front Row honored him with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Fashion Los Angeles Awards in Hollywood.
Bob Mackie, Law Roach (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Daily Front Row)
Mackie died Monday, September 14 in Palm Springs, California, reports The New York Times. He is survived by a granddaughter and two great granddaughters and all the millions of people who have been touched and uplifted by his incredible work. Rest, well, Mr. Mackie. You were one of a kind and we will miss you dearly.
