Bob Mackie

Robert Gordon Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of numerous entertainment icons for television, movies, concerts, and live stage shows. He was the costume designer for all the performers on The Carol Burnett Show during its entire eleven-year run, and the creator of memorable costumes for Cher and Elton John. For his work, Mackie has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. In April 2023, Mackie was awarded with the inaugural Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award by RuPaul at the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 finale.
Mackie was born March 24, 1939, in Monterey Park, California, to Charles Robert Mackie and Mildred Agnes (née Smith) Mackie. His father worked at Bank of America. He has an older sister.
Mackie was raised in early childhood by his maternal grandparents in Alhambra, California because his parents divorced. By high school he moved to Rosemead, California and lived with his father. He attended Rosemead High School.
Mackie continued his education at Pasadena City College and one-year study at Chouinard Art Institute but left without earning a degree from either school. At Chouinard, Mackie studied under Eva Roberts, the head of the fashion design department. He left Chouinard early because he got his first job sketching for Frank Thompson at Paramount Studios. Between 1960 and 1963, Mackie worked as a novice designer and assistant under designer Ray Aghayan at Paramount Studios.
In 1961, while he was working at Paramount Studios, costumer Edith Head found Mackie.
In Mackie's early career he worked as a sketch artist for French haute couturier Jean Louis, who is noted for crafting stage gowns worn by actress Marlene Dietrich during her career as a cabaret singer. As one of his first assignments, he drew the original sketch of Marilyn Monroe’s dress worn in 1962 at President John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In 1966, Mackie was hired by Mitzi Gaynor to design her new stage show at the Riviera in Las Vegas. Gaynor was the first star client for whom Mackie designed an entire show. He would continue to design for her television specials and live stage shows for the next 50 years. He won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for Music-Variety for Gaynor's TV specials Mitzi...Roarin' in the Twenties (1976) and Mitzi...Zings Into Spring (1977).
In 1969, Mackie was hired to design costumes for Diana Ross, The Supremes, and The Temptations in the television special GIT: On Broadway. In 1972, he and Aghayan were nominated for Best Costume Design for Lady Sings The Blues, starring Diana Ross. Mackie and Diana Ross continued their collaborative efforts well into the 21st century, with Mackie designing stage costumes for Ross' 2010 More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour.
Mackie designed costumes for the Las Vegas Strip–based burlesque shows Hallelujah Hollywood, which was inspired by the Ziegfeld Follies and ran at the MGM Grand (now Bally's Las Vegas) from 1974 to 1980, and Jubilee!, which ran from 1981 to 2016. Both productions involve intricate, elaborate costumes.
Images of many of Mackie's design drawings for these productions are available in the "Showgirls" collection from UNLV Libraries Digital Collections. He created the costumes for Cher’s 2008–11 Las Vegas Cher at the Colosseum residency at Caesars Palace, as well as for her 2017 Classic Cher shows in Las Vegas and Washington D.C.
Elton John's iconic Donald Duck, sequined Los Angeles Dodgers, and Amadeus concert costumes were designed by Mackie.
He designed the exotic ensemble worn by Cher at the March 1986 Academy Awards: black stretch pants, a bejeweled loincloth, knee-high boots, a black chainlink top, and a huge feathered Mohawk headdress that was one and a half times taller than her head. Introduced by Jane Fonda with the words, "Wait'll you see what's gonna come out here". "As you can see," said Cher, "I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress."
Mackie designed costumes for Whitney Houston, especially splashy evening gowns which she wore for many years during concert tours and award shows. He was often referred to as "the sultan of sequins" or "the rajah of rhinestones", known for his sparkling and imaginative costume designs. He has won nine Emmy Awards for his designs, and he has been nominated three times for an Academy Award. Mackie has said, "A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed."
In 1981, Mackie guest-starred as himself on two episodes of the television series The Love Boat. In 2002, Mackie was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In more recent years, Mackie has been mainly known as the costume designer for Cher's elaborate outfits during her latest tours, including the Here We Go Again Tour. In 2019, Mackie won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical for his work on The Cher Show.
More recently, in 2020, Mackie's dresses were featured and worn by television hostess Vanna White over the week of April 27 in the long-running syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune as part of honoring the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bob Mackie created all of the costumes, including evening gowns, character outfits and dance clothing for guests during the run of the show, including the iconic curtain dress from the "Went with the Wind!" sketch, which was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. Brent D. Glass, the museum's director, praised his creativity: “Mackie’s design represents an iconic reimagining of Scarlett O’Hara’s curtain dress, and it exists as a worthy reminder of the designer’s unique contribution to a golden era in American comedy...It was his spirit of innovation that made ‘Went with the Wind’ a symbol of this country’s rich comedic history.”
Burnett credited him with coming up with other comedic touches for the show's various characters, such as the tight-legged skirt for Mr. Tudball's secretary, Mrs. Wiggins. She told Mackie the skirt was too baggy in the back for her physique, but he told her to stick her bottom out to fill it, resulting in the character's distinctive posture and walk. In a 2003 interview with Terry Gross, Burnett said Mackie would put rice in the “older woman” undergarments, where typically cotton would’ve been used, to make the saggy breasts have weight and movement as the characters walked or danced, such as when Burnett portrayed Norma Desmond or Charo's mother. Burnett estimated that Mackie had created 17,000 outfits for the show, and said his costume work added more humor to some of the skits she felt were weaker than others.
On March 14, 1960, Mackie married LuLu Porter (née Marianne Wolford), a singer and actress, and later an acting teacher. The couple had a son, Robert Gordon Mackie Jr. (known as "Robin"), the previous year. The couple divorced in 1963. Robin, a makeup artist, died in 1993 at the age of 33 of an AIDS-related illness, predeceasing his parents.
Beginning in 1963, Mackie's significant other was costume designer Ray Aghayan, whom Mackie worked with as an assistant. The two worked together through the 1970s, as well as having separate clients. They remained together until Aghayan's death in 2011.
The Academy Awards are awarded annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Mackie has received 3 nominations.
The American Choreography Awards honored outstanding choreographers in the fields of feature film, television, music videos, and commercials. Mackie has received 1 honorary award.
The Costume Designers Guild Awards are awarded annually by the Costume Designers Guild for costume designers in motion pictures, television, and commercials. Mackie has received 1 honorary award.
The Emmy Awards are presented at one of the numerous annual American events or competitions that each recognize achievements in a particular sector of the television industry. Mackie has received 1 honorary award and 9 competitive awards from 32 nominations.
RuPaul's Drag Race is a reality competition program hosted by American drag queen RuPaul. The show periodically highlights and celebrates pop culture icons that have influenced LGBTQIA+ culture over the years with their "Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award". Mackie has received one honorary award.
The Tony Awards are presented annually by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. Mackie has received 1 award from 1 nomination.
The TV Land Award generally commemorates shows now off the air, rather than in current production. Mackie has received 1 honorary award.