The Man Who Dressed Cher and Elton John Has Died
Bob Mackie died at age 87 in Palm Springs.
His death was announced in a statement on his Instagram account on Monday. NPR reported the death on September 14, 2026, while AP said the place of death was Palm Springs.
He was born Robert Gordon Mackie in Monterey Park, California, in 1939. He started out drawing costume ideas for designer Jean Louis. He drew the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday Mr President" to John F. Kennedy in 1962, according to BBC.
People called him the "Sultan of Sequins" because he loved sparkle. He won one Tony Award for plays, nine Emmy Awards for TV, and was nominated three times for an Oscar for movies.
He made stage clothes for Cher, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton and Elton John. He also made looks for Carol Burnett and for Diana Ross, according to Fox News. The clothes had to let singers move and dance and still look sharp on camera, from far away and up close.
He made Cher's Mohawk outfit for the Oscars in 1986. He made Elton John's Dodgers baseball outfit for his 1975 shows at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Both were made to stand out in photos. Miley Cyrus wore a dress designed by Mackie to perform at the 2024 Grammy Awards. So his work stretches from Monroe in 1962 to Cyrus in 2024.
Mackie was with fashion designer Ray Aghayan from 1963 until Aghayan's death in 2011. He told the story of his career in the picture book "The Art of Bob Mackie."
The broader context here is why singers trusted him for so long. Live TV and concerts leave no time to fix a costume once the lights go up. In my view, the awards and long list of stars show he could deliver under that pressure, year after year.
