Bob Mackie, the legendary fashion and costume designer whose dazzling creations helped define Hollywood glamour for more than six decades, died Monday at 87.
His death was announced in a statement on his social media accounts. No cause was immediately disclosed. “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,” the statement said, adding that his designs would continue “to bring beauty into this world.”
Known as the “Designer to the Stars,” Mackie built a visual language of sequins, rhinestones, feathers, sheer fabrics and unapologetic theatricality. He won nine Emmy Awards, earned three Academy Award nominations and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2019, he won a Tony Award for his costume design for the Broadway musical “The Cher Show.”
His career began in 1961, when the Southern California native worked as a sketch artist for leading Hollywood costume designers including Edith Head and Jean Louis. Among his earliest brushes with fashion history was the sketch for the sheer, crystal-covered gown Marilyn Monroe famously wore while singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Mackie’s breakthrough came through television and live entertainment. Mitzi Gaynor hired him to design costumes for her Las Vegas show and television specials, work that caught the attention of Carol Burnett and producer Joe Hamilton. Mackie was subsequently hired for “The Carol Burnett Show” and remained its costume designer throughout its 11-season run.
Cher wearing a Bob Mackie design at the 1986 Academy Awards
(Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
With Burnett, Mackie showed that costume design could deliver a punchline as effectively as it delivered glamour. With Cher, he pushed celebrity style toward something bolder and more provocative, creating revealing, feathered and heavily embellished looks for her television appearances, concerts and red carpets. But Cher was only one name on a client list that stretched across generations and included Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Liza Minnelli and others.
The designer accumulated a string of nicknames over the years, including the “Sultan of Sequins,” the “Rajah of Rhinestones” and the “Guru of Glitter.” Yet behind the excess was a straightforward philosophy. “You don’t try to change anybody, you just try to make them look better than ever,” Mackie told The Associated Press in 2018.
Bob Mackie fashion show, 1991
(Photo: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
His work extended well beyond television and red carpets. Mackie designed for Broadway, ballet and opera and launched a ready-to-wear collection and collectible Barbie dolls in the 1980s. A major Fashion Institute of Technology retrospective in 1999 brought together more than 125 examples of his costumes, sketches, photographs and videos.
And his aesthetic never became merely a relic of old Hollywood. Archival Mackie pieces continued to appear on a younger generation of stars, including Zendaya, Miley Cyrus and Anya Taylor-Joy. Zendaya wore one of his gowns while honoring Cher at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, while Taylor Swift turned to Mackie originals for the imagery surrounding her 2025 album “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Mackie’s clothes were rarely designed to disappear into the background. They were built for entrances, spotlights and performers who wanted to be seen. From classic Hollywood and television variety shows to arena concerts and modern red carpets, his work helped establish the visual vocabulary of the superstar.
For generations of performers, wearing Bob Mackie meant more than putting on a dress. It meant becoming the show.