I walked into the White Dove Thrift Shoppe in Phoenix, not looking for anything in particular. Every third Sunday of the month, they have a sale to try to offload everything before bringing in a new shipment. It was buzzing in there. A lady walked by holding Manolo’s, 6 people were surrounding the jewelry case… and there was me, looking at some vintage Canon camera lenses from the 90s.

I set the lenses down and slithered my way up the stairs. When I got to the top, there was only one gentleman up there. He was screeching hangers in the clothing section. Definitely looking for some pants.

I made a beeline left to the bookshelf. Not sure why, but it was calling me. This place is not known for having the best book collection. A lot of old Brittanicas and bird watching field guides. But I decided to take a look anyway.
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It’s difficult to find “The Art of Bob Mackie” book. It’s always sold out on Amazon. And if you’re trying to get it from a reseller, they jack up the price 100X. It’s not even old… it debuted in 2021. After I set down a “Birds of Michigan” book. I saw it. It had two sticker prices on it (classic for a thrift shop). $11.99 at the cash register. Ka-ching!

I didn’t realize how rare the book was. But when I brought it home my fiancé was ecstatic “Holy shit, is that a Bob Mackie book?! My Grandma is obsessed with Cher’s looks.” I started flipping through it and my immediate thought was *woah this dude is an exceptional artist.* With clothes obviously, but the drawings are incredible. It’s like caricatures and real photos had a baby. Detailed faces, pops of color, perfect shade work… Chef’s kiss.

I knew that I had to share this with more people. I knew there was a story to be told here. So in this issue, I’m going to talk about Bob Mackie’s work with Cher and their iconic partnership. The reason why I’m including Cher is because she was his muse. It allows me to show the all-around impact that Bob Mackie and Cher had on pop culture.

Behind the scenes at "The Carol Burnett Show"

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Cher and Sonny Bono walked onto the stage at The Carol Burnett Show in 1967. She was only 19. An award-winning show, known for guest stars like Betty White and John Wayne, Cher was completely out of place. Bob Mackie, who was a producer on the show, noticed this:
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"I looked at this girl who was in her bell-bottom pants and her fur vests and her kind of gothy-looking attitude, which was not her at all. She was more Audrey Hepburn than any goth girl I've ever known."

But through all her awkwardness, Mackie saw something in her that was different. Maybe because he was different. Maybe because he was young just like her. Either way, he said it was a miracle.

The showrunners had no idea what to do with Cher. Mackie often talks about the fact that people in show biz at the time were too old to understand her. They couldn’t connect. He had this feeling that the singer would become a big star, and behind the curtain at The Carol Burnett Show is where they became instant friends.

A variety of variety shows

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Variety shows were all the rage in the 60s and 70s. Imagine coming home, dropping your book bag, plopping on your grandma’s floral couch, and shifting through the channels finding your favorite celebrities that were on that night (even jiggling the antenna to get a better connection). That’s what 200M Americans did every day.

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was something special. It was supposed to be a summer replacement show on CBS (when all the main talk show hosts would take time off)... but ratings were so strong that CBS made it permanent.

Going into that show, Cher was adamant about working with Mackie. Remember, they had met on Carol Burnett. Mackie couldn’t take on the full production of Cher’s new show. All he could promise was that he could design Cher’s wardrobe anytime the cameras were on her.

And boy did he throw it down. He planned for several costume changes for each episode. Designing nearly 20 outfits per week! Cutouts, sequins, feathers, bold colors… pushing boundaries that live TV had never seen. That started to become the major draw. They were climbing the top ten rankings, and it was because viewers were tuning in to specifically see Mackie’s outrageous and innovative looks.

The producers realized how much of an impact Mackie’s designs were affecting the popularity of the show. They started throwing big budgets at Cher and Mackie like it was nobody's business. Audiences were taking notice. This was Mackie’s moment. His work on the show started to boost his career. He was cementing himself as a top designer in Hollywood. What it did for Cher was just as important. Mackie’s work made Cher a fashion icon in an instant.

The "Naked" dress

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If you were to transport to the 70s, you’d be immersed in a time of marijuana, feminism, and freedom (hand me some of those shrooms, bud). But that doesn’t mean that the majority of people were on board with that ideology. We’re talking about extremely conservative people. Anything that a woman did during that time that was out of the norm was groundbreaking.

The “Naked” dress is an example of taking shit to the next level. Cher wore this Bob Mackie design at the Met Gala in 1974. It was a multitude of looks years before that sort of built up to this moment. Mackie had taken a stab at something like this in 1968 for Mitzi Gaynor (who was a musical performer). But it wasn’t as daring.

Mackie didn’t create this style out of thin air. If you’re not familiar with the 3% rule (Virgil Abloh used to talk about this), it’s when you take someone else's concept, steal it, and change 3% of it. Art is just copying when you boil it down. Mackie credits the influence of this dress from Jean Louis, a French designer who designed sheer outfits in the 50s for Marlene Dietrich’s Vegas show.

It doesn’t take away from the fact that the “Naked” dress was a massive moment in pop culture history. Cher waltzed into the Met Gala and folks dropped their drinks, spit out their champagne. Aghast. Mackie created a sheer, beaded gown with strategically placed sequins and feathers. The dress was made out of a French material called souffle, which was outlawed in America at the time. Something like this was just not acceptable on the red carpet.

Newsstands banned and removed the TIME magazine cover featuring Cher in the dress. People were pissed off. That moment was huge not only in fashion but for the Meta Gala and other red carpet events. It was the switch that made them “fashion” events.

Revenge is a dish best served cold

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Cher went solo. Honestly, that’s because Sonny kind of sucked (that’s a story for another time). Cher needed a rebrand. After a somewhat lackluster solo run, you know for a fact Bob was up to the task.

One thing that Cher had to battle with was that she was treated as a show pony in Hollywood. No one took her seriously as an actress. Mackie took that personally (at this point they had been friends for nearly two decades).

If you look at the 80s, “more is more” was the attitude. We’re talking about an era of “Reaganomics.” Tax cuts, deregulation. This fueled economic growth but was creating income inequality at a rapid pace. Wealth was being displayed in ways that we hadn’t seen before. This was impacting fashion directly. Bold colors, oversized silhouettes, extravagant accessories. Power dressing and being over the top became very popular.

Mackie’s work on Cher’s 1986 Oscar ensemble was a direct correlation of the times. A mohawk inspired look, with a massive feathered headdress nearly two feet tall. Kimono-style jacket, low-rise skirt, and a jewel-encrusted top. It was so out of left field that it became iconic.

This was revenge against the Academy. Cher and Mackie pushed it so far that it even made him uncomfortable. He didn’t even want to do it. It’s not how you dressed for the Oscars. But she didn’t want to look like “a housewife in an evening gown…” she wanted something “so over the top that it’s next week.”
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A couple of years later Cher and Mackie doubled down. You know the song, but have you seen the “If I Could Turn Back Time” music video? It was filmed on the USS Missouri. 200 Navy Shipmen on board. Cher walked out with a V-shaped strap in sheer body stocking. The Navy was shocked because they expected her to wear something more conservative.

The video was banned on MTV. Then they lifted the ban, but families still protested and the Navy faced major backlash. That moment led to the Navy banning music video productions on their ships. But everyone saw it. Mackie gained even more stardom for creating daring looks that designers wouldn’t touch at the time.

Parlour's perspective

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Bob Mackie has 3 Oscar nominations, won 9 Emmys and a Tony. Let that sink in for a second. This dude was a master of blurring the lines between theatrical costumes and high fashion. It inspired decades and decades of dramatic and expressive elements in every fashion designer that you know today.

He single-handedly flipped award shows on its head. He is the reason red carpets are designed to create major fashion moments. He isn’t a slouch. He worked with Diana Ross, Elton John, and even recent stars like Zendaya and Miley Cyrus.

If there is no Cher, there is no Bob Mackie. And I bet if you asked him if that was the case, he would agree. They challenged each other to break molds. Try things that have never been done. Cher was the perfect person to allow Bob Mackie to create identity in his designs.

It’s hard to stand the test of time. Tastes change, people change… the world changes. It moves faster than ever. And to continue to be referenced day after day… to be sought after is a testament to how engrained his work is with pop culture. Mackie shaped television, film, and the stage. It goes far beyond what you can imagine.