Bob Mackie’s sequinned spectacle lives on in pictures

Bob Mackie’s career was built around clothes designed to command attention. A new picture gallery from The Guardian Fashion chronicles his work for entertainers including Cher, Diana Ross, Elton John, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Madonna and Barbra Streisand.

Mackie entered the fashion spotlight early. As a 21-year-old assistant to designer Jean Louis, he sketched the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to US president John F Kennedy in 1962. Decades later, he criticised Kim Kardashian’s decision to re-wear the dress at the 2022 Met Gala, calling it “a big mistake”.

His own designs became cultural landmarks. Cher’s 1974 “naked dress” created what Mackie described as “a lot of hubbub”, while Tina Turner’s “flame dress”, worn for her first performance after her divorce from Ike Turner, became another signature creation. Dolly Parton’s butterfly dress and Diana Ross’s costumes for Lady Sings the Blues extended his vocabulary from stagewear into film and popular spectacle.

The gallery also captures Mackie’s work beyond the red carpet: from costumes for television programmes and musical theatre to fashion shows, exhibitions and illustrated designs. Elton John wore a Mackie Dodgers baseball top while performing at Dodger Stadium in 1975, a glittering example of the designer’s ability to turn even sportswear into theatre.

Mackie was sometimes called the “sultan of sequins”, a reputation reinforced by the continued circulation of his designs. Zendaya wore a vintage Mackie dress in 2022, while Miley Cyrus acquired a Mackie tasseled mini dress in 2024. Taylor Swift used original costumes from Mackie’s Jubilee! designs in 2025, and Alexa Demie wore vintage Mackie in 2026.

Mackie received the CFDA Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Through photographs spanning more than five decades, The Guardian Fashion presents his legacy as one in which glamour was not an accessory, but the entire point.