Key Takeaways
- Bob Mackie, the legendary fashion and costume designer who defined showstopping glamour across six decades, has died at 87; no cause of death was disclosed.
- Mackie created iconic performance looks for Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Cher, Whitney Houston, RuPaul, and Beyoncé, while stars including Zendaya, Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift later embraced his archive.
- His career brought nine Emmys, three Oscar nominations, and a Tony for The Cher Show, alongside an enduring legacy in television, film, Broadway, drag, and concert fashion.
Bob Mackie, the legendary designer who set Tina Turner on fire, draped Diana Ross in beads, and dressed generations of entertainers in enough sequins to command an arena, has died. He was 87. Mackie’s death was announced on Monday, September 14, through his official social media accounts, closing a six-decade career that helped define how superstardom looked on television, concert stages, red carpets, and movie screens.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today,” the announcement read, per Vogue. “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.” A cause of death was not disclosed.
The statement added that his “genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”
Mackie’s clothes were built to make an entrance—and survive a performance. Working with Turner beginning in the late 1970s, he created some of the singer’s defining solo looks, including her flame dress and winged costumes that dramatically opened whenever she raised her arms.
Their collaboration could also be remarkably direct. Turner would bring him inexpensive jersey gowns she found in Europe, and the two would reshape them together in front of a mirror. “She’d say ‘a little higher here,’ and I’d cut,” Mackie once recalled.
That instinct for translating a performer’s presence into clothing also powered his work with Ross. After dressing the Supremes, Mackie helped shape Ross’ glamorous presentation as a solo star across television specials, concerts, and major public appearances. He joked that Ross eventually “got custody of me,” noting that she frequently wanted to borrow Cher’s clothes.
Mackie and Ray Aghayan later earned an Academy Award nomination for their costumes in Lady Sings the Blues, the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic that brought Ross a Best Actress nomination.
His influence never remained locked inside one era. Mackie dressed Whitney Houston, RuPaul, pioneering actress and singer Diahann Carroll, and Las Vegas powerhouse Lola Falana.
Beyoncé wore a shimmering custom Mackie ensemble in her 2002 “Work It Out” video, while younger performers including Zendaya, Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift later reached into his archive.
Mackie won nine Emmy Awards, received three Oscar nominations, and took home a Tony for his costumes in Broadway’s The Cher Show. He also designed for all 11 seasons of The Carol Burnett Show, where his clothes could deliver a punchline as effectively as they created glamour.
In 2023, RuPaul presented him with the first Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award, recognizing a legacy deeply embedded in drag and performance culture.
