Bob Mackie, Designer for Cher and TV, Dies at 87

Bob Mackie, the costume and fashion designer whose glittering work helped shape the public images of Cher, Carol Burnett and generations of entertainers, has died at 87. His team announced his death through his official Instagram account on Monday. A cause was not disclosed.

A career built for performance

Mackie understood that a stage costume had to do more than look beautiful in a fitting room. It needed to read from a distance, support a performer’s personality and become part of the show. That approach powered a career that stretched across television, concerts, film, theater and fashion.

He became closely associated with Cher after meeting her through his work on The Carol Burnett Show. Their collaboration continued for decades, producing the sequined, feathered and body-conscious looks that became inseparable from her stage identity. He also designed for Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Elton John, RuPaul and many others.

Rolling Stone noted that contemporary stars including Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift have worn archival Mackie designs. That continuing demand shows how his work moved beyond nostalgia: the clothes remain recognizable, dramatic and useful to performers building their own visual moments.

Television, film and Broadway honors

Mackie’s workload on The Carol Burnett Show was famously intense, with dozens of costumes required each week. Among the show’s enduring images was Burnett’s curtain dress from the “Went With the Wind!” sketch, a costume that turned a visual joke into television history.

His honors reflected the range of that work. Mackie won nine Emmy Awards from 32 nominations, earned three Academy Award nominations for costume design and received a Tony Award in 2019 for The Cher Show. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002.

Born in Monterey Park, California, in 1939, Mackie began as a sketch artist and assistant designer before developing a name of his own. His official statement remembered a man who spent his 87 years pursuing the work he had always wanted to do. The designs left behind make that ambition visible: bold, witty and created with the performer in mind.