Bob Mackie, designer to the stars who dressed Cher and Marilyn and defined '70s glamour, dies at 87

NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Mackie, the fashion designer whose visually provocative Hollywood style defined glamour for the 1970s — including putting Carol Burnett in some of her kookiest getups and Cher in her raciest ones — died Monday. He was 87.

“He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a Fashion and Costume Designer, which is all he ever wanted to do,” read a statement on his social media accounts. Mackie died in Palm Springs, California, from pneumonia, his publicist said.

Dubbed the “Designer to the Stars," Mackie won nine Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and was nominated for three Oscars, including one for Barbra Streisand’s “Funny Lady,” in which she wore a sheer batwing gown. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame in 2002.

He designed gowns for Madonna, Streisand, Sharon Stone, Diana Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and concert costumes for Pink. 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.

His influence can be seen in the styles of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid. His archival pieces are worn today by the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy, Miley Cyrus and Zendaya, the latter who wore a Mackie gown to honor Cher at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. When Taylor Swift wanted to look like a showgirl on the cover of her 2025 album “The Life of a Showgirl,” she turned to some Mackie originals.

Sequins and embellishment were natural tools — other nicknames were the Sultan of Sequins, the Rajah of Rhinestones and the Guru of Glitter — but he had a simple motto: “You don’t try to change anybody, you just try to make them look better than ever,” he told The Associated Press in 2018.

Tributes came from fellow designers and those lucky enough to wear his outfits. Actor Kristin Chenoweth called him a “legend” and designer Isaac Mizrahi wrote, simply, “heartbroken.” Actor Alyssa Milano called him “one of the best that ever was.”

On Broadway, Mackie dressed the casts of “On the Town” in 1971 and “Moon Over Buffalo” in 1995. He also created costumes for Burnett in the revue “Putting It Together,” Debbie Reynolds in “Debbie” in 1976, Liza Minnelli in “Minnelli on Minnelli” in 1999 and, most recently, the cast of “The Cher Show,” winning his Tony Award.

Mackie was a Southern California native and embraced the idea of Hollywood movie glamour as a young child, inspired by Technicolor musicals. He would dream elaborate costumes for his mother and sister and sketch them, and he was active in costume and set design of his high school plays. He went to Pasadena City College to study advertising and illustration, and then costume design at LA's Chouinard Art Institute.

He also grew up a fan of all the variety-show and pop stars of the 1950s and ’60s and especially their glitzy wardrobes. He went to work for costume designer Edith Head, then got the gig for “The Carol Burnett Show.”

He and Burnett had a close friendship and collaborated on memorable characters such as Nora Desmond, Eunice and her take on Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” — called Starlet O’Hara — wearing her green curtain dress on its rods. “I love doing funny things,” Mackie said in a 1999 interview with the AP. “One week I’d have to make Carol an unattractive postal worker, and who knows what I’d have to do the next.” (Starlet’s dress is now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.)

Mackie’s TV work continued on “The Sonny and Cher Show,” after Cher had guest-starred on Burnett’s show and took a liking to him. He had said that her Laverne character, with her leopard-print jumpsuit and dangling earrings, was one of his favorites.

He and Cher took a much sexier turn when she moved to movies and was invited to the Academy Awards. All those beaded, belly-baring numbers she’d wear on the stuffy red carpets came from Mackie.

Mackie attended the 1974 Met Gala with Cher on his arm dressed in what is perhaps one of the most famous so-called naked dresses of all time: a sheer beaded gown with white feathered sleeves and a white feathered skirt. She and the dress ended up on the cover of Time magazine.

Looks such as the 1986 beaded spiderweb — worn with complementary Mohawk — and the barely-there gown she wore for her best actress win in 1988 turned heads and set tongues wagging at the time.

“The outfits are sometimes mistaken for fashion, but they’re costumes like for a character in a play,” Mackie told the AP in 1999. “I want people to have fun. I want people to say ‘Wasn’t that interesting?’ or ‘Wasn’t that wild?’”

Mackie had some retail success in the 1980s and ’90s, launching a ready-to-wear line in 1982 that would ultimately land on the runway at New York Fashion Week, and he was an early partner of QVC.

Naked dresses only got more popular but Mackie later in life was unimpressed. “You watch awards shows and say, ‘Oh, cover up! Put it away! Honey, I don’t need to see all of that!’ It gets to be so vulgar, you don’t even want to look at it anymore,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024. “I was so bored watching The Met Ball — everyone exposing everything, the same look-alike dress — I shut it off. If you’ve seen one Kardashian, you’ve seen them all. And we have seen all of them.”

Mackie also created dozens of different Barbie dolls for Mattel, with a wide variety of face sculpts, body types and storylines. He is credited as the first designer to create a complete doll. One was Lady Dracula Cher, with little baby fangs and her box resembling a coffin.

The documentary “Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion” debuted in 2024. A Mackie dress Cher wore in 1975 was auctioned off in 2024 for $101,600, 25 times its original estimate.

Mackie was married to showgirl Lulu Porter from 1960 until 1963; their son, makeup artist Robert Gordon Mackie Jr., died from AIDS at age 35. Costume designer Ray Aghayan, his longtime partner, died in 2011.

He had said practicality was never a driving force in his design: “It’s all about looking good and living your fantasies.”

In 2017, a 71-year-old Cher once again turned heads, dressed in two Bob Mackie specials at the Billboard Music Awards. It was a blast from a different era, unlike the boring fashion world he saw.

“Nothing is very interesting anymore,” he told Vogue in 2017. “You just keep seeing the same thing over and over again and there are no surprises. Unfortunately, you don’t see much fashion anymore.”

FILE - Cher, left, and designer Bob Mackie arrive at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Gala on Sept. 25, 2021, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Fashion designer Bob Mackie poses at the premiere of the documentary film "Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion" in Los Angeles on May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

This combination of photos show Bob Mackie fashion on, from left, Pink in Manchester, England, on April 25, 2009, Cher in Philadelphia on Dec. 6, 2019, and Tina Turner in London on March 3, 2009. (AP Photo)

FILE - Costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie poses at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., on Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - Cher, wearing a Bob Mackie black-sequined gown, poses with her Oscar after winning the award for best actress for her role in "Moonstruck" at the 60th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on April 12, 1988. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

FILE - Fashion designers, from left, Halston, Bob Mackie, Gloria Vanderbilt and Geoffrey Beene pose on the set of the "Love Boat" for a fashion-themed episode in Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 1981. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)

FILE - Actress-singer Cher wears a creation by designer Bob Mackie as she poses with actor Don Ameche after presenting him with the Oscar for best supporting actor at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, on March 24, 1986. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

FILE - Fashion and Costume Designer Bob Mackie poses with two of his iconic designs, a scarlet red satin gown worn by Cher in 1975, right, and a marigold jersey jumpsuit worn by Cher between 1971-1976, left, in London on Aug. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - Host Whoopi Goldberg appears as Queen Elizabeth, in a Bob Mackie costume, during the 71st Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 21, 1999. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File)

FILE - Cher, left, and designer Bob Mackie attend "The Cher Show" Broadway musical opening night in New York on Dec. 3, 2018. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie poses for a portrait at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., on Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - Costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie poses at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., on Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - Bob Mackie accepts the award for best costume design of a musical for "The Cher Show" at the 73rd annual Tony Awards in New York on June 9, 2019. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Bob Mackie appers at the 27th Costume Designers Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iran-backed rebels' ability to control a key maritime shipping route.

Meanwhile, repairs to a crucial Saudi Arabian oil pipeline that was struck in an attack last week could last three to five weeks, putting it mostly out of service, two regional officials said.

Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Houthi officials said Monday that rebels had taken over the two islands just as Saudi-backed government forces tried to claw back territory from the rebels' swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transits in peacetime — in the opening days of the war. The Saudis have since used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which leads out of the Red Sea, for crude oil exports.

The Houthis’ latest takeover, following the seizure of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, puts more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.

This could give Iran additional leverage in its war with the United States.

Saudi Arabia relies on the East-West Pipeline to move crude from Gulf ports to ports on its western, Red Sea coast. From there it can be put on tankers for export.

Two officials briefed on the matter said repairing damage from an attack on Sept. 10 could take weeks, including at a major pumping facility.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media. One said the line may work partially while teams carry out the repairs.

China, a major Middle East oil importer, called Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure “unacceptable” and said that it was “deeply concerned” about further escalations by the rebels.

— By Samy Magdy in Cairo

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday that Saudi Arabia had “demanded" that a meeting bringing together Iran with other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz be scrapped “for the time being.”

Baghaei called the meeting, which was to be hosted by Oman, a “proper opportunity” to restore security in the region.

The spokesman said that an agreement between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz has been finalized and it will be announced later.

Saudi Arabia had submitted amendments to the agreement, citing concerns that it could have lasting implications for the Strait of Hormuz, negatively impacting other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to a Gulf official familiar with the matter who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iran denounced on Monday the refusal by Austria to issue visas to the Iranian nuclear chief and other delegation members for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general conference in Vienna, calling the decision “completely unjustified.”

Baghaei said that Tehran summoned the Austrian chargé d’affaires, saying Austria was obligated as the host country to issue the visas.

Baghaei accused Western countries of denying Iran an opportunity to defend itself and blamed the U.S. for pressuring Austria to deny the visas.

The refusal is part of U.N. sanctions on Iran, reinstated last year, that include a travel ban on Iranian officials.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday criticized Iran’s failure to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Wright was particularly critical of Tehran’s refusal to grant U.N. inspectors access to Iran’s nuclear sites affected by the war. He said that Iran had “ample time to address its egregious negligence" toward its obligations "but that time is up.”

Speaking at the IAEA general conference in Vienna, Wright said that giving Iran more time "only delays overdue accountability.”

Wright said that additional safeguards contained in a U.S.-Saudi nuclear accord include “absolutely rigorous” terms against proliferation. He told the IAEA general conference that the U.N. nuclear agency "was part of it all along.”

The U.S.-Saudi accord, signed in July, could potentially provide the kingdom the capability to enrich uranium for its civilian nuclear program.

Wright was responding to a question from the media about why the U.S. requested Iran to sign an Additional Protocol and not Saudi Arabia. The Additional Protocol is an agreement between the IAEA and a country that grants agency inspectors increased access to nuclear sites.

Nearly 94,000 people have fled their homes in Yemen since fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces escalated this month, the International Organization for Migration said Monday.

The worst-hit areas are Taiz and Lahj, where 48,000 have been displaced, the U.N. agency said, adding that more than 2,000 people have fled across the sea into Djibouti.

Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern Yemen to absorb an influx of families, the International Rescue Committee, an aid group, said.

Fears mount that Yemen is inching closer to a return to a civil war that killed 150,000 before a 2022 ceasefire. The World Health Organization said more than 500 people were killed in a weeklong period ending Saturday, a sharp increase.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday killed two people and wounded several others, hospital officials and the health ministry said.

One person was killed in Gaza City, while the other was killed when a strike hit tents in Muwasi, according to Shifa and Nasser hospitals.

The strikes also wounded people in Zawaida in central Gaza and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the health ministry said. The Israeli military confirmed the strikes and said they targeted militants.

The heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas has subsided since a ceasefire last October, but Israeli fire has killed more than 1,360 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the territory.

The B’Tselem human rights group said Monday Israel is carrying out a systematic and accelerated project aimed at “dismantling the foundations of Palestinian existence” in the occupied West Bank.

The group said in a new report that Israeli actions against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers and the military are designed to undermine Palestinian collective life “while entrenching a permanent system of Jewish supremacy” across the territory.

Settler violence has surged under the ultranationalist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rights groups say the military frequently turns a blind eye to the violence, and that when it intervenes it often focuses on protecting the settlers.

The B’Tselem report also says that Israeli actions rely heavily on open cooperation between state authorities and armed settlers who attack Palestinian communities, while the military either fails to prevent the violence or sometimes participates in it.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

A man walks in front of a mural symbolising restrictions on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's key shipping lanes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

People chat at a coffee shop in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Displaced Yemenis, from Al Khawkhah city, 400 kilometers (249 miles) south west of Sanaa, wait to enter a temporary shelter in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

Yemeni civilians celebrate while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Bani Matar district, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city. (AP Photo/STR)