# RIP Bob Mackie, 87 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061 "2026-09-14T19:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/1 "2026-09-14T19:51:34Z")
[Bob Mackie, fashion designer to the stars, dies at 87 | AP News](https://apnews.com/article/bob-mackie-dies-fashion-designer-b2e50b957a55462995e76290a3920e1b) You could very narrowly define Bob Mackie’s career by his work on the Carol Burnett Show (including the famous Gone with the Wind parody), but he dressed stars for decades and decades. What I did _not_ know was > When Marilyn Monroe delivered a breathy, seductive take on “Happy Birthday” at a fundraiser for President John F. Kennedy and the Democratic National Committee, she did it in a sheer, beaded gown that Mackie dreamed up in a sketch. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/2 "2026-09-14T20:52:08Z")
He was revered by the dozens of famous women he dressed, by many accounts. I’m told that at Carol Burnett’s request, he always designed pockets into the lavish gowns she wore to open each of her TV-show episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/3 "2026-09-14T22:06:15Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > What I did _not_ know was > > > When Marilyn Monroe delivered a breathy, seductive take on “Happy Birthday” at a fundraiser for President John F. Kennedy and the Democratic National Committee, she did it in a sheer, beaded gown that Mackie dreamed up in a sketch. That’s the dress that a subsequent purchaser, Ripley’s _Believe It or Not_, loaned to Kim Kardashian to wear on the red carpet at the 2022 Met Gala. (Unsurprisingly, [the fragile historic garment was somewhat damaged](https://themarilynmonroecollection.com/marilyn-monroe-famous-jfk-dress-loaned-by-ripleys-is-permanently-damaged-after-kimk-met-gala-red-carpet-walk/).) And, credit where due, [the gown was actually designed by the renowned designer Jean Louis from the sketch he requested from his 21-year-old employee Mackie](https://people.com/bob-mackie-never-seen-marilyn-monroe-happy-birthday-dress-exclusive-11845332). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/4 "2026-09-15T03:45:11Z")
On tonight’s _Carol Burnette_ rerun on MeTV they had a memorial screen for him at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/5 "2026-09-15T04:01:17Z")
We saw a documentary on him recently. I guess I knew he was alive; but hearing he just died today I was like, 'Didn’t he just die recently?" ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/6 "2026-09-15T06:54:54Z")
Bob Mackie was such an icon. He was a costumer who drove fashion trends, and broadened the definition of beauty as it was applied to female bodies. He worked comfortably and even preferentially with powerful, independent women. It’s hard for today’s kids to understand what it meant that he worked with Tina Turner. Most designers of the time were focused on female stars who fit a certain fair, feminine, and petite profile. They chose their clients like they were hiring a model, and it limited the careers of female performers. Mackie celebrated Tina’s beauty, her gorgeous complexion and athletic body and wrapped them in glamour. He dared anybody to deny her star quality. He did the same for Cher who was too tall, too straight, too flat for the aesthetic of the times. Mackie celebrated diversity and said eff the beauty standards, these women are gorgeous!! [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SUCfMlo3EDY?feature=share](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SUCfMlo3EDY?feature=share&fbclid=IwcGRvZgFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFVOW5RRTk1OWpxd2cwdEdhc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgom1gO5K2R6m9yAoB-HSrBTiZX2eOQ5-jZLJX3rhxP_bMEHKjTWf1gHnzgB_aem_1F0rg_VVer944jBjcCbL7Q) ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/7 "2026-09-15T12:23:54Z")
Thanks for posting that. I didn’t know anything about him. The extent of my knowledge was from an early Simpsons episode where Bart gets a Bob Mackie sports coat. The name stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/8 "2026-09-15T14:55:25Z")
Thanks for the merge. I swear I did a search before I started the thread, and NOTHING came up. Argh!! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-bob-mackie-87/1033061/9 "2026-09-15T19:02:57Z")
Back in the early 90s, I asked a co-worker about her perfume. It was from Bob Mackie, and that was the first time I remembered hearing his name. Unfortunately the perfume didn’t smell as good on me as it did on her. Otherwise I might have been wearing in for the last few decades.