Mackie’s career spanned Monroe’s 1962 birthday dress to Carpenter’s VMAs

Bob Mackie, born Robert Gordon Mackie in Monterey Park, California, in 1939, began his career as a sketch artist for the French-American costume designer Jean Louis. One of his early assignments was sketching the dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she delivered her breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy in 1962.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr Bob Mackie passed away today,” the Instagram statement read. “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 won one Tony Award, nine Emmy Awards and received three Oscar nominations during his career.

The death drew tributes from across the entertainment industry. Sir Elton John wrote on Instagram: “Every time I put something on that Bob made, I felt very, very special. His costumes were works of art, and he will go down as one of the most legendary designers ever in Hollywood.”

Pink, who wore several Mackie designs during her 2009 Funhouse tour, 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 particularly influential in Cher’s career, designing the iconic Mohawk outfit she wore to the Oscars in 1986. The showgirl-inspired costume featured a plumed Mohawk headdress and showed Cher’s bare midriff. The BBC described it as one of the most outrageous and extravagant ever to appear at the awards. Cher explained the look in the 2024 documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion. “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,” she said.

In a 2010 BBC interview, Mackie recalled Cher’s early career. “When she started out, she looked like no-one else in the entertainment business at the time,” he said. “Everybody just went crazy over this woman as she could wear anything.” Cher was widely reported to be the first woman to show her belly button on U.S. television, and Mackie’s designs were pivotal to that, according to the BBC.

The designer’s work extended to other prominent performers. Sir Elton John’s now-iconic bedazzled Dodgers baseball outfit was worn during his performances at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1975. Tina Turner wore her famous “wing” costume, designed by Mackie, in 1977. Barbara Streisand stunned in a Mackie outfit in the 1975 musical Funny Lady. Diana Ross wore one of his creations at the American Fashion Awards in New York in 2001.

Miley Cyrus wore a Mackie dress during her performance at the 2024 Grammy Awards. She won a Grammy that year for her break-up anthem, “Flowers” — what the BBC called “perhaps… her own version of a ‘revenge’ dress.” Sabrina Carpenter wore one of his designs at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, where she won Best Album for Short n’ Sweet. The BBC identified Carpenter as a recent wearer.

In a 2018 Guardian interview, Mackie addressed the question of retirement. “I think I’m the oldest living designer in Hollywood,” he said. Asked whether he planned to retire, he replied, “I hope not.”

Mackie married Hollywood singer and actress Lulu Porter in 1960; they divorced three years later. They had a son, 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.