Remembering costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie

Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times on Sep 21, 2026

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Some people just live life with a little more sparkle than the rest of us.

Bob Mackie, the costume and fashion designer who created unforgettably spangled looks for the likes of Cher, Tina Turner, Carol Burnett, Elton John, Pink, RuPaul and Barbie, died on Sept. 14 at the age of 87.

Mackie got his start in movies as a sketcher for legendary Hollywood designers Jean Louis and Edith Head, but quickly branched into television, creating costumes for “The Carol Burnett Show” (his green-velvet curtain dress, for a 1976 “Gone with the Wind” spoof, was an instant comedy classic) and “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” kicking off a decades-long design partnership with Cher. Mackie won nine Emmy Awards (with 32 nominations) and a Tony Award, was Oscar-nominated three times, and was the first costume designer to be inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Just months before his death, he made a cameo appearance on the HBO series “Hacks”: Legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) insisted on wearing Mackie for her Madison Square Garden debut.

“When you wear a Mackie,” his official Instagram stated simply, “you dare to be noticed.”