Bob Mackie: The Life of Fashion's Icon-Maker, Glitz Master and Performance Connoisseur
(Yes, 'icon' -- and almost every version of the word and the wordplay around it will be used a lot in this feature.)
The lobby inside the Ted Rogers Cinema was packed with people and excitement on a cold Saturday evening for the official Canadian screening of the documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion.
A two-day affair hosted by Hot Docs film festival, the 106-minute feature reveals the personal and professional life of the man we now acknowledge as one of the most famous costume designers of the 20th century.
Most patrons were silver-haired and bespectacled, save for a few younger and more flamboyant viewers that were either raised on a steady diet of fashion icons of the 70s and 80s, or currently feeding a growing obsession for acquiring archival pieces for clients as well as their personal collections thanks to Image Architect/ Prolific Vintage Fashion Collector/Pop Culture Moment Engineer Law Roach.
From where I am, squished into the tiny red seat of D301 (the balcony), we're all fashion nerds here.
Bob Mackie sits with E-Talk host and moderator Traci Melchor during the Q&A after the documentary viewing. Credit: Ludwing Duarte via Hot Docs Instagram (@hotdocs_).
The documentary attempts to summarize Mackie's life in between a 60-year long (and counting) career journey, showing how a solitary childhood spent drawing costumes for starlets of the 40s and 50s laid the groundwork for creating pieces that became their own iconic moments. For instance:
Marilyn Monroe's 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President' dress in 1962 -- later worn by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala in 2022
Possibly every outfit Cher wore during the 70s and 80s. Specifically when she co-hosted The Sonny and Cher Show -- then later hosted the Cher show, and the naked dress she wore for the Met Gala in 1974
Most of Elton John's performance outfits, including the infamous Donald Duck costume
P!nk's trapeze costume when she performed at the Grammys in 2010
Miley Cyrus's outfit when she performed at the Grammys in 2024
Iconic mentions: Judy Garland, Liza Minelli, Mitzi Gaynor, Diahann Carroll, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, and Barbie, to name a few.
Zendaya at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony wearing a vintage Bob Mackie, originally designed for Cher and styled by Law Roach. Credit: Arturo Holmes // Getty Images via Harper’s Bazaar.
For a client list this grand, and many a 'this happened in pop culture history' moment tied to his name, Bob Mackie only began receiving his own awards within the last five or so years of his career. Before, fashion organizations didn't take costume design -- and by extension Mackie himself -- seriously before 2018. Capital F fashion takes great pride in creations made for the swans of old and the W.A.G.S of today, women who can afford to glide around their inner circles wearing the finest their husbands' money can buy. Costumes are for working girls, worn by anomaly-ied women that made their own fame and fortune from grabbing the spotlight at any stage, welcome or not. Bob Mackie's costumes are both/and creations: shameless and elegant, sexy and athletic, dazzling and authoritative; which carry mixed feelings for an industry that can't deny the creative genius yet didn't entirely respect it.
The late accolades don't phase Mackie. In addition to having a tight-knit work family, is a miracle extended family that includes two great-granddaughters who get to draw with the master at playtime.
Towards the end of the documentary, Bob's advice to the audience of fashion nerds, hopefuls, upcoming and seasoned professionals alike was to keep doing good work.
“It’s important to do good work. You won’t always get noticed, and it’s important to put good work into the world.”
The full documentary will be available to watch or rent on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Fandango At Home, but get a small sequin hit by watching the trailer below:
