Bob Mackie, who designed dazzling costumes for stars including Cher, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton and Elton John has died, aged 87. The US fashion designer, known as the “Sultan of Sequins” for his sparkling creations, won a Tony Award, nine Emmys and received three Oscar nominations during his career. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr Bob Mackie passed away today,” a statement on his Instagram account announced on Monday. “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,” it added.
“His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.” Mackie was particularly influential in Cher’s career and designed her iconic Mohawk outfit, which she wore to the Oscars in 1986. It became known as her “revenge” outfit, because she wasn’t nominated for anything. The showgirl-inspired costume featured a plumed mohawk headdress and showed Cher’s bare midriff – a very new, and very shocking look at the time. The costume has gone down in fashion history as one of the most outrageous and extravagant ever to appear at the awards.
“I didn’t get nominated for a movie that everyone thought I would actually win for [Mask] – so was dressing that night for a kind of revenge,” Cher explained in the 2024 documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion. Mackie told the BBC in 2010 that when Cher started out she “looked like no-one else in the entertainment business at the time”. “Everybody just went crazy over this woman as she could wear anything,” he added. Cher was widely reported to be the first woman to show her belly button on US television – and Mackie’s designs were pivotal to that.
Mackie was also the creative genius behind several of Sir Elton John’s costumes, including his now-iconic Dodgers baseball outfit – bedazzled of course – that he wore during his performances at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1975. “Every time I put something on that Bob made, I felt very, very special,” Sir John wrote on Instagram. “His costumes were works of art, and he will go down as one of the most legendary designers ever in Hollywood.” Singer Pink wore many of his designs over the years. Sharing several of the outfits she wore on stage during her Funhouse tour in 2009, she wrote “I was so lucky to be dressed by him for so long.
He was loving, wickedly funny and an absolute genius.” “There are going to be some fabulously dressed angels.” Mackie was still designing up until recently – Sabrina Carpenter wore one of his designs at the MTV Video Music Awards last year. He also designed the dress Miley Cyrus wore during her performance at the 2024 Grammy Awards. She won a Grammy that year for her break-up anthem, Flowers – perhaps it was her own version of a “revenge” dress. Robert Gordon Mackie was born in Monterey Park, California, in 1939.
His design career started as a sketch artist for Jean Louis, a French-American costume designer. One of Mackie’s early assignments saw him sketch the dress that Marilyn Monroe wore when she delivered her breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday Mr President” to John F Kennedy in 1962. He married Hollywood singer and actress Lulu Porter in 1960, but they divorced three years later. They had a son together, Robin, who died in his early thirties from an Aids related illness.
Mackie was in a relationship with Iranian fashion designer, Ray Aghayan, from 1963 until Aghayan’s death in 2011. “I think I’m the oldest living designer in Hollywood,” Mackie told The Guardian in 2018. When asked if he’d ever retire, his answer was simple – “I hope not.”
