Robert Gordon Mackie (March 24, 1939 – September 14, 2026) was an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of numerous entertainment personalities for television, movies, concerts, and live stage shows. He was the costume designer for The Carol Burnett Show (1967–78), and the creator of memorable ensembles for Cher, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Elton John, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Mackie is referred to alliteratively as the "Sultan of Sequins", the "Rajah of Rhinestones" or the "Guru of Glitter" for his sparkling and imaginative designs. Mackie said, "A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed." Mattel partnered with him to produce outfits for collectable Barbie dolls, and he introduced cultural diversity to their features and outfits to reflect the heritage of real-life women.
Mackie was born in Monterey Park, California on March 24, 1939, to Charles Robert Mackie and Mildred Agnes (née Smith) Mackie. His father worked at Bank of America. He had an older sister. Mackie was raised in early childhood by his maternal grandparents in Alhambra, California, because his parents divorced. By high school he moved to Rosemead, California, and lived with his father. He attended Rosemead High School.
He continued his education at Pasadena City College and one-year study at Chouinard Art Institute but left without earning a degree from either school. At Chouinard, Mackie studied under Eva Roberts, the head of the fashion design department. He left Chouinard early because he got his first job sketching for Frank Thompson at Paramount Studios. Between 1960 and 1963, Mackie worked as a novice designer and assistant under designer Ray Aghayan at Paramount Studios.
Career
1960–1969
While he was working at Paramount Studios, costumer Edith Head engaged Mackie to work on the 1963 films Donovan's Reef and A New Kind of Love. He said "Edith Head taught me not so much about designing as how to handle producers, directors, and actors. Her public relations were superb."
In 1966, Mackie was hired by Mitzi Gaynor to design her new stage show at the Riviera in Las Vegas. Gaynor was the first star client for whom Mackie designed an entire show. During her second network special, she wore a form-fitting "nude illusion" gown made from a knit fabric called soufflé, which has influenced gown construction worn by many entertainers throughout the years. He would continue to design for her television specials and live stage shows for the next 50 years. He won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for Music-Variety for Gaynor's TV specials Mitzi...Roarin' in the Twenties (1976) and Mitzi...Zings into Spring (1977).
He designed the exotic ensemble worn by Cher at the 58th Academy Awards in March 1986: black stretch pants, a bejeweled loincloth, knee-high boots, a black chainlink top, and a huge feathered Mohawk headdress that was one-and-a-half times taller than her head. She was introduced by Jane Fonda with the words, "Wait'll you see what's gonna come out here". "As you can see", said Cher, "I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress."
Mackie designed costumes for Whitney Houston, especially splashy evening gowns which she wore for many years during concert tours and award shows. He won nine Primetime Emmy Awards for his designs, and was nominated three times for an Academy Award.
Mackie designed Liza Minnelli's wedding dress for her 2002 wedding to David Gest. Mackie's biographer, Frank Vlastnik described Mackie as the "Crown Prince of the Imperial Monarchy of the Island of Bling". Mackie recalled the planning for the wedding as "nuts" and that it was "absolute pandemonium" at the church. During his final years, Mackie was mainly known as the costume designer for Cher's elaborate outfits during her latest tours, including the Here We Go Again Tour. He created the costumes for Cher's 2008–11 Las Vegas Cher residency at Caesars Palace, as well as for her 2017 Classic Cher shows in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Mackie won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical for his work on The Cher Show in 2019.
On January 24, 2026, the Palm Springs Art Museum honored Mackie at its Art Party 2026 Gala. In connection with the Gala, the Museum exhibited Reflections of Glamour: Bob Mackie, an exhibit featuring 5 of his gowns, and sketches of his work from the 1970s to the 2000s.
Mackie created all of the costumes, including evening gowns, character outfits and dance clothing for guests during the run of The Carol Burnett Show, including the famous curtain dress from the "Went with the Wind!" sketch, which was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. Brent D. Glass, the museum's director, praised his creativity: "Mackie's design represents an iconic reimagining of Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress, and it exists as a worthy reminder of the designer's unique contribution to a golden era in American comedy. It was his spirit of innovation that made 'Went with the Wind' a symbol of this country's rich comedic history."
Carol Burnett credited him with coming up with other comedic touches for the show's various characters, such as the tight-legged skirt for Mr. Tudball (Tim Conway)'s secretary, Mrs. Wanda Wiggins (Burnett). She told Mackie the skirt was too baggy in the back for her physique, but he told her to stick her bottom out to fill it, resulting in the character's distinctive posture and walk. In a 2003 interview with Terry Gross, Burnett said Mackie would put rice in the "older woman" undergarments, where typically cotton would have been used, to make the saggy breasts have weight and movement as the characters walked or danced, such as when Burnett portrayed Norma Desmond or Chiquita (Charo)'s mother. Burnett estimated that Mackie had created 17,000 outfits for the show, and said his costume work added more humor to some of the skits she felt were weaker than others. She praised him by saying "There are fashion designers, but they can't do costumes. And then there are costume designers that don't do fashion. But Bob does it all. He's the whole ball of wax."
Collaboration with Mattel
Mattel, manufacturer of Barbie dolls, approached Mackie in the late 1980s to design clothes for a Barbie. The first limited-edition doll he designed had a gold outfit with a sequined skirt, feather boa, and long ponytail, and made its debut in 1990. The doll's appearance foreshadowed a similar look taken by Madonna in concert during her Blonde Ambition World Tour.
While other designers had created fashions for Barbies, Mackie was the first to also be involved with changes to the face and hair. Mackie said at that point in time, all American dolls had blonde hair, but changing the length and color allowed Barbie to be whoever and whatever she wanted to become. A closed-mouth smile became known as the "Mackie sculpt" and was popular with collectors.
Mackie created outfits that were glamour-related or fantasy-related, instead of traditional work uniforms. Other outfits echoed his creations for television shows or specific clients like Cher. The details had to be proportionally scaled down and embroidery, beading and other details were in some cases done by hand.
Part of the innovation Mackie brought to the dolls was insisting on having different ethnicities and traditional garb represented. He drew on his experiences with the many women he worked with in fashion shows and felt the dolls should be as varied as the real women that were in the world.
On March 14, 1960, Mackie married LuLu Porter (née Marianne Wolford), a singer and actress, and later an acting teacher. The couple divorced in 1963. They had a son, Robert Gordon Mackie Jr. (known as Robin). Robin, a makeup artist, died in 1993 at the age of 33 of an HIV/AIDS-related illness due to drug use, predeceasing his parents. Mackie and Porter remained very close throughout the years and later discovered that they shared a granddaughter, with whom they enjoyed a close relationship and two great-grandchildren.
Beginning in 1963, Mackie's significant other was costume designer Ray Aghayan, with whom Mackie worked as an assistant. The two worked together through the 1970s, as well as having separate clients. They remained together until Aghayan's death in 2011.
Death
On September 11, 2026, Mackie had fallen at a friend’s home in Palm Springs, California while recovering from pneumonia. He died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage and head trauma, three days later, on September 14 at a hospital in Palm Springs, at the age of 87.
The Emmy Awards are presented as one of the United States's annual events award shows which each recognize either nationally or locally, achievements in a particular sector of the television industry. Mackie received 1 honorary award and 9 competitive awards from 32 nominations. The Tony Awards are presented annually by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. Mackie received 1 award from 1 nomination.
↑UNLV Libraries Digital Collections. "Jubilee!". Showgirls. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
↑Min, Janice (January 24, 1994). "Putting on the Glitz — Again". People. Retrieved March 21, 2019. Then in March, his 33-year-old son Robin died of AIDS after a long battle with drugs. 'I wish everything that happened was a nightmare,' says Bob, "and I could open my eyes and wake up and have it be over."
↑"Robin Mackie". Variety. March 17, 1993. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2019. Artist Robin Mackie, son of designer Bob Mackie, died Monday in Los Angeles due to complications from AIDS.
