The Disney Side of Bob Mackie: Remembering the "Sultan of Sequins" at 87

Bob Mackie, the costume designer whose sequins, feathers, and rhinestones defined decades of television glamour, has passed away at the age of 87. A legendary fashion designer to the stars, Bob Mackie’s career intersected with Disney in a few surprising ways that Disney fans may not be aware of.

Nicknamed the "Sultan of Sequins," Mackie was best known as the costume designer for all eleven seasons of The Carol Burnett Show, where Burnett estimated he created some 17,000 outfits, including the curtain-rod dress from the "Went with the Wind!" sketch that now resides in the Smithsonian. His decades-long partnership with Cher produced television's first bare belly button and the feathered Mohawk "revenge" ensemble she wore to the 1986 Academy Awards. Over his career, he won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award for The Cher Show, and earned three Academy Award nominations for Lady Sings the Blues, Funny Lady, and Pennies from Heaven.

Born Robert Gordon Mackie in Monterey Park, California, on March 24, 1939, he studied at Pasadena City College and the Chouinard Art Institute before landing a job sketching at Paramount Studios. As a sketch artist for Jean Louis, he drew the original rendering of the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy in 1962. Mitzi Gaynor hired him to design her Las Vegas act in 1966, the first full show he dressed, and from there his client list grew to include Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Whitney Houston and, in recent years, Pink, Miley Cyrus, and Sabrina Carpenter.

Disney fans encountered Mackie's work in some unexpected places. He designed the costumes for the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, including Harvey Korman's four-armed chef Gormaanda, Art Carney's trader Saun Dann, Diahann Carroll's Mermeia, and Bea Arthur's cantina bartender Ackmena, as well as the holographic circus performers who entertain Lumpy. While he never designed for The Muppet Show, his creations appeared throughout, from the feathered headdress and beaded suit Elton John wore to perform "Crocodile Rock" with the Muppets to the sequined illusion bodysuit Raquel Welch wore for "Baby It's Me." He reunited with Carol Burnett for the 2005 television adaptation of Once Upon a Mattress, which aired on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney and earned him his final Emmy nomination. He also created Elton John's 1975 Donald Duck concert costume, and Cher's 1986 Oscar look earned an animated cameo of sorts in The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney's Hollywood Studios, where Mushu repeatedly professed his love for Cher and showed her off in that exact outfit.

Collectors knew him through his long association with Mattel, which began when they approached him in the late 1980s to design couture looks for Barbie. Mackie was the first designer allowed to alter Barbie's face and hair, and the closed-mouth "Mackie sculpt" became a collector favorite. A fashion show sequence in Walt Disney World’s 1994 Barbie stage show at EPCOT, The Magical World of Barbie, featured homages to Bob Mackie’s Barbie fashions and ended with his Empress Bride Barbie design.

In 1999, Mackie gave Minnie Mouse the couture treatment with the Millennium Minnie designer doll. Most recently, he partnered with The Hamilton Collection on Disney Glamorous Jewels by Bob Mackie, a line of hand-painted, crystal-embellished figurines that reimagined the gowns of Belle, Ariel, and Snow White, each shipped with a certificate bearing Mackie's original sketch. A companion series, Disney Enchanting Treasures, recently launched with Ursula and was set to continue with Gaston and The Evil Queen.

Mackie never retired. The Palm Springs Art Museum honored him this January, and Sabrina Carpenter wore one of his designs at last year's MTV Video Music Awards. He was preceded in death by his son, Robin, and his longtime partner, costume designer Ray Aghayan, and is survived by a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren. His life and career are chronicled in the 2024 HBO Max documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion.