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The feathers! The baubles! The chainmail chaps! Once upon a time, Bob Mackie was glamour. From The Carol Burnett Show to 30 years of Tina Turner’s leg-loving stage looks to Cher’s most unforgettably outré ensembles, Mackie’s garnered a client roster that reads like a who’s who of twentieth-century showbiz. He’s not as ubiquitous as he once was, but he still creates made-to-order couture and a mass-market line called Wearable Art, available through QVC. A mini-Mackie revival is brewing, with celebs like Eva Longoria Parker and Jada Pinkett Smith pulling gowns from the vaults and turning them out on the red carpet—bejeweled loincloths and mohawk headpieces not included.
“Such a face. So boyish and smooth. Makes you think of Dobie Gillis, the button-down boy next door. Cheerleader material in white bucks, splashed with Vitalis. No wonder Bill Blass once called him 'lad,' though maybe that was a dig. The lad was 45, after all. But to the Snobs of Seventh Avenue he was just flash. 'Mr. Hollywood,' they called him. Cher's designer! Still, there were worse things than being known as the guy who attached Mrs. Bono's costumes with toupee tape.”—Cathy Horyn The Washington Post
Bob Mackie