Bob Mackie, costume designer to stars daring to be noticed, dies aged 87

Bob Mackie, the costume designer behind some of the most sexy and glamorous outfits worn by celebrities in the past 50 years, has died at the age of 87.

“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 posted on his Instagram account. “His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”

Mackie’s work can be seen in the wardrobes of stars ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Carol Burnett, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner and – perhaps most memorably – Cher. He designed the ‘naked’ dress the singer wore to attend the Met Gala in 1975, the midriff-baring outfit with an oversized Mohawk headdress she wore to the Oscars in 1986 and the transparent body stocking she wore for the If I Could Turn Back Time video in 1989.

The Met Gala outfit has since become a reference for a younger generation. Kim Kardashian wore a dress modelled on it for the same event in 2015.

More recently, Taylor Swift wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! cabaret costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl while Sabrina Carpenter and Zendaya have also worn archival looks by the designer. In 2024, the singer Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn to perform at the Grammys.

Last year at an auction, Cher’s “naked” bodysuit fetched $57,600 (£42,600), seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200 (£14,200).

The designer first began working with Cher for The Sonny and Cher show in the 1960s and remained a collaborator for decades. Cher has paid tribute to his contribution to her career, saying without Mackie “I would have been a peacock without feathers”.

Mackie’s first notable design has another connection to Kardashian – as assistant to designer Jean Louis, he sketched the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to president John F Kennedy in 1962. Kardashian wore the original dress to the Met Gala in 2022 – to the disapproval of much of the fashion world, who thought it should be preserved. Mackie was one of the people who spoke out. “I thought it was a big mistake,” he said to Entertainment Weekly. “It was designed for [Monroe]. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”

In 1963, he began to work on The Judy Garland Show, and met his collaborator and partner Ray Aghayan. Work for the Supremes, and then Diana Ross, followed. The duo were nominated for an Oscar for the costumes Ross wore in the 1973 Billie Holliday biopic Lady Sings the Blues.

Mackie’s motto was “dare to be noticed” and his costumes certainly gained attention for the people wearing them. Elton John’s duck costume, worn in 1980, has become notorious. But the designs also sometimes made points. Cher’s outfit for the Oscars in 1986 was so flamboyant because the star felt she was snubbed for her performance in Mask and wanted to take revenge when she was presenting an award.

Speaking to the New York Times a year later she said: “OK, you can go in a simple black dress and be just like everyone else. But then I decided, I’m going to remind them of what they don’t like about me.” Mackie obliged with his creation.

Turner’s “flame” dress, worn in 1977 after her split from her abusive partner and musical collaborator, Ike, turned the star into a gloriously unsubtle phoenix rising from the ashes.

The designer hasn’t always been harmonious with his clients. His work with Cher had tensions. In 2018, talking to the Guardian about the raunchy Turn Back Time outfit he said he thought it was “vulgar and horrid. I told her: please, I don’t want any credit for this.” In 2019, he described Garland as “a big handful” and said he refused to design costumes for a recent Cher tour. “I’m in touch with clients only when they need clothes,” he said. “I never want to be their best friend.”

Mackie diversified beyond costume design. He launched a clothing line in 1982 and made Bob Mackie collectible Barbies. Working with QVC from 1999, Mackie’s aesthetic has been utilised on everything from fragrance to luggage to high-end jewellery – and in 2009 he appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Mackie gained plaudits for his unique take on glamour in recent years. The Fashion Institute of Technology staged the Unmistakably Bob exhibition in 1999, and he received the prestigious Geoffrey Beene CFDA Lifetime Achievement award in 2019. For 2023’s Diva exhibition at London’s V&A, he was front and centre, with Turner’s flame dress a highlight – and visitors able to see how Mackie’s design accentuated the showmanship of Turner, and made her performance even more memorable. This was, ultimately, Mackie’s talent. “I’m very serious about this,” he said in 2018. “It’s not just flamboyant, crazy stuff. It’s all very worked out.”