Few designers have choreographed glamour with the unapologetic boldness of Bob Mackie. Interchangeably known as the “Sultan of Sequins,” the “Rajah of Rhinestones,” and the “Guru of Glitter,” Mackie has whipped up a fantasy universe of sequins, feathers, sheer materials, and disruptive class for over seven many years. Dressing legends like Cher, Tina Turner, Diana Ross—mom of Marie Claire UK cowl star, Tracee Ellis Ross—and a constellation of iconic stars whose public personas turned inseparable from his attire, Mackie has himself turn out to be an icon.
His signature, a combination of showgirl‑glamour and couture, has modified what it means for a lady to face out. “A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed,” Mackie as soon as mentioned, and at a time when girls have been usually anticipated to vanish elegantly into the background, Mackie engineered outfits that refused to be neglected.
For greater than half a century, he has been trend’s grasp of high-voltage glamour. Now, as a range of his iconic creations goes on public sale as half of the Bold Luxury assortment at Julien’s Auctionswe revisit his iconic legacy of liberating girls from staid fashion.
Cher at the 1986 Academy Awards Ceremony carrying an outfit by Bob Mackie.
(Image credit score: Frank Trapper/Corbis by way of Getty Images)
Bob Mackie was born in 1939 in Monterey Park, California. As a teen, he was enraptured by the vibrant Technicolor of early Hollywood: musicals, stage reveals, and cabaret have been the genesis of his inspiration and would stay a defining affect for many years.
After a short stint finding out at the Chouinard Art Institute, he started sketching for movie studios, working underneath the legendary costume designer Edith Head at Paramount and in addition with couture legend Jean Louis. The legendary “naked” marquisette robe drenched in 2,500 rhinestones worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1962 when she breathily serenaded JFK, and later worn by Kim Kardashian, was initially sketched by Mackie.
These formative experiences honed each his aptitude for the dramatic and intuition for celeb picture‑making. But the present actually began when he moved into TV selection reveals. While the studio heads of the time might need dismissed the ‘small screen,’ Mackie—ever forward of his time—realised its potential not only for daring costume design, however as a strong medium succesful of reaching way more folks than cinema ever may.
In the ’60s and ’70s, Mackie turned the costume designer for packages like The Carol Burnett Show. Over its 11-year run, he created an astonishing 17,000 outfits for Burnett and her company. This meant that each week, common people at dwelling may step into his imaginative and prescient of glamour: sequins, feathers, lashings of each specimen of sparkle. Fantasy trend, underneath Mackie’s course, was not the reserve of aristocrats, actors, and elites. Instead, this efficiency of femininity turned accessible to all. This shift wouldn’t keep confined to TV both. Suddenly, trend for ladies didn’t should be quiet, minimal, or understated to be taken severely.
Carol Burnett (L) and Cher (R) in 1975.
(Image credit score: CBS by way of Getty Images)
With an archive as intensive and firmly cemented in the public creativeness as Mackie’s, no single creation may outline his legacy. But, for the functions of brevity, for those who needed to attempt, most would land on the legendary “naked‑illusion” robe he made for Cher’s look at the 1974 Met Gala. Translucent, with artfully positioned vines of sequins and whispery feathers tracing the define of her sinuous determine, the robe has been homaged advert infinitum. Most lately, on Dsquared2’s Autumn/Winter 2025 runway, when Amelia Gray stormed the catwalk in a cappuccino-hued rendition, all darkish, poker-straight hair and closely kohled eyes à la Cher.
As Mackie recalled in an interview with Voguethe costume created “a lot of hubbub.” Some cities even banned the magazines with Cher on the cowl. In his phrases: “How often do you get a girl that looks like that, dressed like that, on the cover of Time magazine?”
But to contemplate it merely scandalous is nearly to overlook the level. The robe reframed the feminine physique not as one thing to cover or management, however as one thing to rejoice. Given that this was in the ‘70s, a time when feminism, sexual liberation, and shifting mores were all in flux, a dress like that wasn’t simply trend and even fantasy; it was a press release.
With the profit of hindsight, cultural critics acknowledge that what the costume was actually doing was daring to ask: Who owns the feminine physique? Who decides when and the way she reveals it? No surprise the legacy of that particular robe echoes so plainly in pink‑carpet appears (extra to come back on that), editorial shoots, and aforementioned runway reveals.
Mackie’s inventive relationship with Cher started with TV in the late ’60s and blossomed throughout many years of reinvention: hippie‑period beginnings, disco glamour, ballgowns, tour costumes, a dizzying array of pink‑carpet appears.
Cher herself mentionedin reference to Mackie’s designs: “Without Bob I would have been … a peacock without feathers.” But Cher was removed from alone. Tina Turner was one other standout collaborator. For her 1977 Las Vegas residency, Mackie created a gold-and-silver chain‑fringe bodysuit replete with lamé wings. Another sartorial assertion, the look captured a second of transformation: Turner, newly unbiased and triumphant, rising as a solo powerhouse. “She was born to be on stage,” Mackie recalled in a current interview with People.
Collaborations with some of music’s strongest girls have been about greater than attire; they turned beacons of identification, freedom, and reinvention at a time when girls weren’t simply awarded such issues. Women of color, girls of their 40s and 50s, who might need been forged apart a decade earlier, may talk their presence by means of a brand new language of fashion.
Tina Turner wears a Bob Mackie creation whereas acting at the Las Vegas Entertainment Awards in 1977.
(Image credit score: Michael Ochs Archives by way of Getty Images)
Each period has seen a brand new technology of stars embrace Bob Mackie’s iconic aesthetic. Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, and Dua Lipa have all worn or referenced his dizzyingly glamorous fashion. When Zendaya inducted Cher into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame final 12 months, there was just one designer to show to. For the ceremony, Zendaya, with the assist of her longtime stylist and collaborator Law Roach—a inventive powerhouse pairing reminiscent of Mackie and Cher’s partnership—opted for an archival gold robe with a criss-cross, ab-bearing bodice evocative of kinds worn by Cher in the ’70s. Poker-straight, bum-grazing hair and glowy make-up accomplished the homage. Emily Ratajkowski additionally embraced Bob Mackie’s legendary designs at the 2019 Met Gala, when she wore a customized Peter Dundas nude and silver embroidered cut-out robe; whereas the cited inspiration was Cher, the winged headpiece additionally referred to as to thoughts Tina Turner’s lamé feathers.
Mackie’s affect goes past celebrities carrying his designs; his creations have been reinterpreted and celebrated by in the present day’s trend icons. In 2018, in a full-circle second, he labored on The Cher Showdesigning the costumes for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and even taking part in a personality in the present. Far from being relegated to the previous, Mackie’s legacy is alive and nicely, with new generations channelling his extravagant, larger-than-life fashion.
Zendaya at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony.
(Image credit score: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
What Mackie began on stage steadily seeped into mainstream trend. Sequins, dazzle, and drama turned integral to the pink carpet and on a regular basis fashion. Today, it could be uncommon for a pink carpet not to function body-con silhouettes, sheer materials, and glittering elaborations — all Mackie signatures. Even ready-to-wear labels borrow from his visible language. As associates and critics famous in Vogue’s 2019 oral historical past: “Everybody designing red-carpet dresses today owes him a debt.”
His affect spans each popular culture and couture. Throughout the many years, Mackie has proved that luxurious isn’t solely about subdued class; it will probably, and infrequently ought to, be loud, proud, and unapologetic. Life lived in full, superb Technicolour — similar to the traditional Hollywood movies he grew up watching.
In a world nonetheless negotiating feminine company, Mackie’s designs defend a girl’s proper to be seen. That is only one cause why newer and newer artists are rediscovering his aesthetic. As Mr. Mackie himself mentionedwatching a younger technology put on his archival appears: “This generation is telling us how they want to live.”