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The post Fashion Icon Bob Mackie, the ‘Sultan of Sequins’ Who Dressed Cher, Diana Ross and Elton John, Dies at 87 first appeared on Crafting Your Home
Bob Mackie, the costume and fashion designer whose glittering, larger-than-life creations helped define decades of American entertainment, has died at 87.
The designer, often nicknamed the “Sultan of Sequins,” the “Rajah of Rhinestones,” and the “Guru of Glitter” for his elaborate use of jewels, feathers, and fringe, passed away Monday of pneumonia in Palm Springs, California, according to his longtime publicist Jenelle Hamilton.
News of his death was shared on his official Instagram account with a statement that reflected on a career spent entirely doing the one thing he set out to do.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today,” the 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. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”
The announcement did not specify where Mackie had been living at the time of his death, only that he died in Palm Springs, where he had made his home in recent years.
A Career That Began With Edith Head and Spanned More Than Five Decades
Born Robert Gordon Mackie on March 24, 1939, in Monterey Park, California, Mackie was raised in Southern California and studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, now part of the California Institute of the Arts. He never finished his studies there.
Instead, legendary Hollywood costumer Edith Head spotted him and brought him on to sketch designs for Paramount Studios in 1961, giving the young artist his first foothold in an industry he would go on to help reshape.
He also assisted designer Ray Aghayan during this period, who became his professional collaborator and, later, his life partner until Aghayan’s death in 2011.
Mackie’s breakout moment in television came in 1966, when singer and dancer Mitzi Gaynor enlisted him to design her costumes for a Las Vegas revue and a series of television specials, work that debuted his signature style of lavish gowns and elaborate headpieces built for performers in motion.
After watching Gaynor’s Vegas show, Carol Burnett recruited Mackie to design costumes for her new CBS variety program, a partnership that would come to define both of their careers.
Mackie worked on “The Carol Burnett Show” for all 11 of its seasons, reportedly designing about 50 costumes a week, for an estimated total of 17,000 pieces over the course of the series.
His most famous creation from the show remains the curtain rod dress Burnett wore in a “Gone with the Wind” parody sketch, an outfit that has become one of the most referenced costumes in television comedy history.
Burnett spoke about Mackie’s range as an artist in comments highlighted by CNN, describing him as someone who moved fluidly between two disciplines that rarely overlap.
“There are fashion designers, but they can’t do costumes,” she said. “And then there are costume designers that don’t do fashion. But Bob does it all. He’s the whole ball of wax.” That same era also connected Mackie with Cher, whom he met while working on Burnett’s show in 1967.
The two went on to collaborate for decades, with Mackie designing many of the singer’s most recognizable looks, including her midriff-baring ensembles and elaborate feathered headpieces worn at award shows throughout her career.
Mackie’s work extended well beyond Cher and Burnett. He designed for Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, and Mitzi Gaynor, among many others, dressing some of the biggest names in entertainment for concerts, award shows, and television specials over more than 50 years.
He was not above playing against his own glamorous reputation for the sake of a laugh, either. He famously dressed Elton John in an absurd Donald Duck costume for a 1980 concert in New York City’s Central Park, a stunt John still remembered fondly decades later.
“I was dancing across the stage, falling over myself, and I just couldn’t sing for laughing,” John recalled in the short film “Who Is Mackie?,” according to CNN.
Awards, Honors and a Legacy That Reached Into the Present Day
Mackie’s professional accolades reflected the scope of his influence across television, film and stage. He earned three Academy Award nominations over his career, along with more than 30 Emmy nominations and nine wins, including the first-ever Emmy awarded for costume design.
In 2002, he became the first costume designer inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, recognizing an artist who spent 20 consecutive years shaping how American audiences understood glamour through their television screens.
His costume work on “Funny Lady,” created alongside Aghayan, earned the pair an Oscar nomination for a collection of 40 complete 1930s-style outfits built from the ground up for the film.
Elton John paid tribute to Mackie following news of his death, reflecting on both the artistry of his designs and the personal friendship the two shared over the years. “Every time I put something on that Bob made, I felt very, very special,” John wrote on social media, according to NBC News.
“His costumes were works of art, and he will go down as one of the most legendary designers ever in Hollywood.” John also spoke to the personal bond between the two, noting a shared sensibility that went beyond their professional relationship.
“He loved glamour like I love glamour, but more than anything, we shared the same sense of humour and had so much fun together,” John said.
Mackie’s influence continued to surface in pop culture well into 2026. His designs became a plot point on the final season of the HBO series “Hacks,” in which Jean Smart’s character Deborah Vance searches for the perfect outfit for a Madison Square Garden show and ultimately settles on a white jumpsuit inspired by one Burnett wore decades earlier.
Mackie reportedly worked directly with the show’s costume designer, Kathleen Felix-Hager, to help recreate the iconic look for the series, a collaboration that introduced his work to an entirely new generation of viewers who may not have known his name but instantly recognized his signature style.
Beyond film and television, Mackie built a broader lifestyle brand during his career, including a longtime partnership with QVC, lines of luggage and home furnishings, and, fittingly for a designer known for outfitting the most famous women in the world, a collection of elaborate couture looks created for Barbie dolls.
In April 2023, RuPaul honored Mackie with the inaugural Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award during the season 15 finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a recognition of his enduring impact on performers and designers who came up admiring his work.
Mackie is survived by his sister, according to reporting on his family background. He was preceded in death by Aghayan, his partner of decades, in 2011, and by his son, Robin, who died of AIDS related causes in 1994.
Across a career that spanned from sketching for Edith Head at Paramount in the early 1960s to consulting on prestige television nearly six decades later, Mackie remained defined by the same guiding philosophy he expressed throughout his life, once saying that his clothing was made for the woman who is “not afraid to be noticed.”
For generations of performers who stepped into his sequined, feathered, and rhinestone-studded creations, that philosophy became a kind of permission, and fashion and entertainment insiders say it will continue to shape red carpets and stages long after his passing.
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