Bob Mackie obit

Bob Mackie Dies: Fashion Designer To The Stars Who Dressed Cher, Carol Burnett And Many More Was 87

 

He was not on the list.

Bob Mackie, the Oscar-nominated and Tony- and Emmy-winning fashion designer who dressed Cher in her most eye-popping costumes, Barbra Streisand in her batwing gown in Funny Lady and sketched the design for Marilyn Monroe’s beaded white dress she wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK, died Monday. He was 87.

The news was announced on Mackie’s social media feeds.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today,” it read. “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. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”

The impact of Mackie, born in Monterey Park just east of Los Angeles who attended Pasadena City College, was and remains felt across the entertainment landscape from the time he began working in the biz in the early 1960s as a sketch artist.

He was nominated for three Oscars — including Streisand’s Funny Lady and Lady Sings the Blues with Diana Ross (both noms with collaborator and partner Ray Aghayan) and later for Pennies From Heaven — and won nine Emmys including for his work with Burnett and on Mama’s Family, the spinoff of a sketch on The Carol Burnett Show, the latter for which he was the costume designer during its entire 11-year run.

Mackie and Aghayan won the Emmy for Individual Achievements in Art Direction and Allied Crafts – Costume Design for Alice Through the Looking Glass in 1967, the first Emmy ever awarded for costume design.

In theater, he won his Tony Award in 2019 for The Cher Show, part of a long association with the singer/actor that began back on the variety shows The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and The Sonny and Cher Show, garnering him more Emmy noms. On Broadway he also costumed the likes of Burnett, Carol Channing, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters and Debbie Reynolds.

But it was Mackie and Cher who flew highest, teaming for most of Cher’s iconic concert tour and red carpet looks — especially on the Oscars red carpet — that became her signature with their not-much-left-to-the-imagination designs that drew everyone’s eye. She in her Mackie gown she wore to the 1974 Met Gala made the cover of Time Magazine.

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

Mackie had his thimble in several projects, including creating a ready-to-wear line that debuted in 1982 and later gave a leg up to the early QVC; his brands featuring the QVC Wearable Art Collection and home furnishing collections launched in the 1990s. He also designed several Barbie dolls for Mattel that captured the fantasy spirit of his designs.

Among his lifetime accolades, he won the Costume Designers Guild’s Career Achievement Award for Television in 1999 and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2022.

Costume Designer

Vanna White and Ryan Seacrest in Wheel of Fortune (1983)

Wheel of Fortune

6.7

TV Series

Costume Designer

2020

4 episodes

 

Diahann Carroll - Some of These Days

TV Special

Costume Designer

2010

 

Tina Turner in Tina Live (2009)

Tina Live

8.9

Costume Designer

2009

 

Terror Toons 2 (2007)

Terror Toons 2

3.5

Video

Costume Designer

2007

 

Cher: The Farewell Tour (2003)

Cher: The Farewell Tour

8.3

TV Special

Costume Designer

2003

 

Carol Burnett, Bronson Pinchot, John Barrowman, George Hearn, and Ruthie Henshall in Putting It Together (2001)

Putting It Together

8.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

2001

 

Cher: Live in Concert from Las Vegas (1999)

Cher: Live in Concert from Las Vegas

8.3

TV Special

Costume Designer

1999

 

Bernadette Peters in Concert (1999)

Bernadette Peters in Concert

8.9

TV Special

Costume Designer

1999

 

Blue Suede Shoes: Ballet Rocks!

9.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1998

 

Angela Lansbury and Michael Jeter in Mrs. Santa Claus (1996)

Mrs. Santa Claus

6.6

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1996

 

Golden Anniversary (1995)

Golden Anniversary

5.9

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1995

 

Men, Movies & Carol (1994)

Men, Movies & Carol

7.4

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1994

 

Bette Midler in Gypsy (1993)

Gypsy

7.2

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1993

 

The Carol Burnett Show (1967)

The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion

8.7

TV Special

Costume Designer

1993

 

Ed Sullivan in The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show 2 (1991)

The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show 2

7.9

TV Special

Costume Designer

1991

 

Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence in The Carol Burnett Show (1991)

The Carol Burnett Show

8.4

TV Series

Costume Designer

1991

 

Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)

Julie & Carol: Together Again

9.0

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1989

 

Plaza Suite (1987)

Plaza Suite

6.8

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1987

 

Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, and Carl Reiner in Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)

Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin

8.2

TV Special

Costume Designer

1987

 

Teri Garr, Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin, and Gregory Harrison in Fresno (1986)

Fresno

7.9

TV Mini Series

Costume Designer

1986

5 episodes

 

Max Dugan Returns (1983)

Max Dugan Returns

6.7

Costume Designer

1983

 

Baryshnikov in Hollywood (1982)

Baryshnikov in Hollywood

6.9

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1982

 

The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)

The 54th Annual Academy Awards

6.2

TV Special

Costume Designer

1982

 

Eunice (1982)

Eunice

7.9

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1982

 

Lynda Carter: Street Life (1982)

Lynda Carter: Street Life

8.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1982

 

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

Pennies from Heaven

6.5

Costume Designer

1981

 

Celebration

8.0

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1981

 

...All the Marbles (1981)

...All the Marbles

6.4

Costume Designer

1981

 

Raquel Welch in From Raquel with Love (1980)

From Raquel with Love

TV Special

Costume Designer

1980

 

Encore! (1980)

Encore!

7.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1980

 

The 32nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1980)

The 32nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

7.1

TV Special

Costume Designer

1980

 

The Cheryl Ladd Special: Souvenirs

8.6

TV Special

Costume Designer

1980

 

Ann-Margret: Hollywood Movie Girls

8.2

TV Special

Costume Designer

1980

 

Carol Burnett & Company (1979)

Carol Burnett & Company

8.3

TV Series

Costume Designer

1979

4 episodes

 

The Captain & Tennille Songbook (1979)

The Captain & Tennille Songbook

7.7

TV Special

Costume Designer

1979

 

Cher in Cher... and Other Fantasies (1979)

Cher... and Other Fantasies

7.8

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1979

 

Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett in Dolly & Carol in Nashville (1979)

Dolly & Carol in Nashville

8.9

TV Special

Costume Designer

1979

 

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The Star Wars Holiday Special

2.2

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1978

 

Carol Burnett and Charles Grodin in The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1978)

The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank

6.3

TV Movie

costume designer: Carol Burnett

1978

 

Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin

8.7

TV Special

Costume Designer

1978

 

Mitzi Gaynor in Mitzi... What's Hot, What's Not (1978)

Mitzi... What's Hot, What's Not

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1978

 

Carol Burnett in The Carol Burnett Show (1967)

The Carol Burnett Show

8.7

TV Series

Costume Designer

1967–1978

269 episodes

 

The Goldie Hawn Special (1978)

The Goldie Hawn Special

7.1

TV Special

Costume Designer

1978

 

Bette Midler: Ol' Red Hair Is Back (1977)

Bette Midler: Ol' Red Hair Is Back

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1977

 

Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond in Donny and Marie (1975)

Donny and Marie

6.2

TV Series

Costume Designer

1977

2 episodes

 

CBS Galaxy

TV Special

Costume Designer

1977

 

Rose on Broadway (1977)

Rose on Broadway

TV Special

Costume Designer

1977

 

Mitzi... Zings Into Spring (1977)

Mitzi... Zings Into Spring

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1977

 

Cher, Sonny Bono, and Sonny & Cher in The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971)

The Sonny and Cher Show

6.9

TV Series

Costume Designer

1976–1977

19 episodes

 

An Evening with Diana Ross

8.8

TV Special

Costume Designer

1977

 

Sills and Burnett at the Met

8.8

TV Special

Costume Designer

1976

 

The Diahann Carroll Show (1976)

The Diahann Carroll Show

6.1

TV Series

Miss Carroll's costumes

1976

1 episode

 

The 48th Annual Academy Awards (1976)

The 48th Annual Academy Awards

5.6

TV Special

Costume Designer

1976

 

Mitzi... Roarin' in the 20's (1976)

Mitzi... Roarin' in the 20's

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1976

 

Cher (1975)

Cher

7.7

TV Series

Costume Designercostume designer: Chercostume designer : Cher

1975

4 episodes

 

Mitzi & 100 Guys (1975)

Mitzi & 100 Guys

8.0

TV Special

Costume Designer

1975

 

Barbra Streisand and James Caan in Funny Lady (1975)

Funny Lady

6.2

Costume Designer

1975

 

Twigs

7.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1975

 

Mitzi... A Tribute to the American Housewife (1974)

Mitzi... A Tribute to the American Housewife

7.2

TV Special

Costume Designer

1974

 

Mitzi... The First Time (1973)

Mitzi... The First Time

7.6

TV Special

Costume Designer

1973

 

The 45th Annual Academy Awards (1973)

The 45th Annual Academy Awards

6.6

TV Special

Costume Designer

1973

 

Carol Burnett and Ken Berry in Once Upon a Mattress (1972)

Once Upon a Mattress

8.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1972

 

Of Thee I Sing (1972)

Of Thee I Sing

6.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1972

 

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Lady Sings the Blues

7.0

Costume Designer

1972

 

The Pompeii Way

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1971

 

Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)

Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center

8.9

TV Special

Costume Designer

1971

 

Diana!

8.1

TV Special

Costume Designer

1971

 

The First Nine Months Are the Hardest (1971)

The First Nine Months Are the Hardest

6.3

TV Special

Costume Designer

1971

 

Raquel (1970)

Raquel

6.3

TV Special

Costume Designer

1970

 

Burlesque is Alive and Living in Beautiful Downtown Burbank

TV Special

Costume Designer

1969

 

Diana Ross, Cindy Birdsong, The Temptations, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Mary Wilson, Dennis Edwards, and Paul Williams in G.I.T. on Broadway (1969)

G.I.T. on Broadway

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer (as Robert Mackie)

1969

 

Mitzi's 2nd Special (1969)

Mitzi's 2nd Special

6.2

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1969

 

Dick Van Dyke and Douglas Denoff in Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman (1969)

Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman

8.0

TV Special

Costume Designer

1969

 

Peggy Fleming in Here's Peggy Fleming (1968)

Here's Peggy Fleming

TV Special

Costume Designer

1968

 

Mitzi (1968)

Mitzi

7.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1968

 

The Fred Astaire Show (1968)

The Fred Astaire Show

8.5

TV Special

Costume Designer

1968

 

Kismet (1967)

Kismet

7.6

TV Movie

costumes designed by

1967

 

Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke in Divorce American Style (1967)

Divorce American Style

6.3

Costume Designer

1967

 

Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase in The Hollywood Palace (1964)

The Hollywood Palace

8.1

TV Series

Costume Designercostumes designed by

1966–1967

16 episodes

 

ABC Stage 67 (1966)

ABC Stage 67

7.3

TV Series

Costume Designer

1966–1967

2 episodes

 

Judi Rolin in Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966)

Alice Through the Looking Glass

5.8

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1966

 

Peter Falk, Robert Goulet, and Sally Ann Howes in Brigadoon (1966)

Brigadoon

7.4

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1966

 

Roger Miller in The Roger Miller Show (1966)

The Roger Miller Show

TV Series

Costume Designer

1966

1 episode

 

Jack Jones on the Move

TV Special

Costume Designer

1966

 

Miss Television U.S.A.

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1965

 

Danny Thomas' the Wonderful World of Burlesque: Second Edition (1965)

Danny Thomas' the Wonderful World of Burlesque: Second Edition

8.4

TV Special

Costume Designer

1965

 

Danny Thomas Special: Friends (1965)

Danny Thomas Special: Friends

TV Special

Costume Designer

1965

 

The King Family Show

7.2

TV Series

costumes

1965

1 episode

 

Arthur Freed's Hollywood Melody (1962)

Arthur Freed's Hollywood Melody

TV Special

costumes designed by

1962

 

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Mini Avengers (2024)

Mini Avengers

costumer

2024

 

Pioneers of Television (2008)

Pioneers of Television

7.9

TV Series

wardrobe (uncredited)

2019

1 episode

 

Jamie Bell, Barbara Drennan, Bryce Dallas Howard, Steven Mackintosh, Diana Alexandra Pocol, Rachel Muldoon, Ophelia Lovibond, Taron Egerton, and Sian Crisp in Rocketman (2019)

Rocketman

7.3

originally designed by: multiple costumes

2019

 

Diahann Carroll: The Lady. The Music. The Legend (2010)

Diahann Carroll: The Lady. The Music. The Legend

8.5

TV Movie

costumer

2010

 

Carol Burnett, Tracey Ullman, Zooey Deschanel, Denis O'Hare, and Matthew Morrison in Once Upon a Mattress (2005)

Once Upon a Mattress

6.3

TV Movie

costume designer: Carol Burnett

2005

 

Cher: The Farewell Tour (2003)

Cher: The Farewell Tour

8.3

TV Special

costumes: Cher

2003

 

Lauren Hutton and Rod Steiger in Guilty as Charged (1991)

Guilty as Charged

5.4

costume designer: Laren Hutton

1991

 

Cher... at the Mirage (1991)

Cher... at the Mirage

8.9

TV Special

wardrobe: Cher

1991

 

Carol & Company (1990)

Carol & Company

7.4

TV Series

costume design: Carol Burnett

1991

1 episode

 

The 43rd Annual Tony Awards

5.2

TV Special

gowns: Ms. Lansbury

1989

 

Brooke Shields, Timothy Dalton, and Diana Scarwid in Brenda Starr (1989)

Brenda Starr

4.8

costumes: Brooke Shields

1989

 

The 42nd Annual Tony Awards (1988)

The 42nd Annual Tony Awards

7.2

TV Special

gowns: Ms. Lansbury

1988

 

Vicki Lawrence in Mama's Family (1983)

Mama's Family

7.3

TV Series

original costume conceptoriginal costume concepts

1983–1988

4 episodes

 

The 41st Annual Tony Awards (1987)

The 41st Annual Tony Awards

7.6

TV Special

gowns: Angela Lansbury

1987

 

The 40th Annual Tony Awards (1986)

The 40th Annual Tony Awards

6.9

TV Special

gowns: Miss Remick and Miss Uggams

1986

 

Neil Diamond in Neil Diamond... Hello Again (1986)

Neil Diamond... Hello Again

9.1

TV Movie

gown: Carol Burnett

1986

 

Bob Hope and Dolores Hope in The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1985)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts

6.6

TV Special

gown: Carol Burnett

1985

 

Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange, Gavin MacLeod, and Lauren Tewes in The Love Boat (1977)

The Love Boat

6.3

TV Series

Miss Juliet Prowse's evening gowns by

1984

2 episodes

 

Burnett Discovers Domingo

9.1

TV Special

gowns: Miss Burnett

1984

 

I Do! I Do! (1983)

I Do! I Do!

6.9

TV Movie

costume designer: Lee Remick

1983

 

The 35th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1983)

The 35th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

8.7

TV Special

wardrobe: Joan Rivers

1983

 

John Travolta in Staying Alive (1983)

Staying Alive

4.8

finale costumes designed by

1983

 

Cher: A Celebration at Caesars (1983)

Cher: A Celebration at Caesars

9.6

TV Special

costume designer: Cher

1983

 

Fake-Out (1982)

Fake-Out

4.6

costume designer: Pia Zadora

1982

 

Night of 100 Stars (1982)

Night of 100 Stars

6.9

TV Special

gowns

1982

 

Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)

Chu Chu and the Philly Flash

4.2

costumes: Miss Burnett

1981

 

Pia Zadora in Butterfly (1981)

Butterfly

4.7

costumes: Pia Zadora

1981

 

Sally Field, Burt Reynolds, and Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

Smokey and the Bandit II

5.3

costume designer: Sally Field

1980

 

Liza Minnelli and Goldie Hawn in TV Special "Liza & Goldie Together," 1979.

Goldie and Liza Together

8.3

TV Special

costumes: Goldie Hawn

1980

 

The 31st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1979)

The 31st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

7.1

TV Special

costume designer: Cheryl Laddgown: Cheryl Ladd

1979

 

Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ann-Margret, and Paul Lynde in The Villain (1979)

The Villain

5.3

costume designer: Ann-Margret

1979

 

Rockette: A Holiday Tribute to Radio City Music Hall

7.5

TV Special

costumes: Ann-Margret

1978

 

Goin' Coconuts (1978)

Goin' Coconuts

4.1

designer: Marie Osmond's performance gowns

1978

 

The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour (1978)

The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour

5.8

TV Series

costume designer: Honey and Sis

1978

1 episode

 

Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond in Donny and Marie (1975)

Donny and Marie

6.2

TV Series

gowns: Marie Osmond

1977

1 episode

 

Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl (1977)

Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl

7.2

TV Special

costumes: Ann-Margret

1977

 

Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley, and Mimi Kennedy in 3 Girls 3 (1977)

3 Girls 3

6.1

TV Series

designer: '3 girls 3' gowns

1977

1 episode

 

Cher, Sonny Bono, and Sonny & Cher in The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971)

The Sonny and Cher Show

6.9

TV Series

costume designer: Cher's gowns

1976–1977

33 episodes

 

Insight (1960)

Insight

7.4

TV Series

costume: Miss Burnett

1977

1 episode

 

Cher (1975)

Cher

7.7

TV Series

costumes: Cher

1975

1 episode

 

Cher, Sonny Bono, and Sonny & Cher in The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971)

The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour

7.1

TV Series

costume designer: Cher's gownsgowns

1971–1974

64 episodes

 

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Lady Sings the Blues

7.0

costume designer: Miss Ross

1972

 

Bob Hope in The Bob Hope Show (1950)

The Bob Hope Show

7.3

TV Series

dance costumes

1969

1 episode

 

Carousel (1967)

Carousel

7.2

TV Movie

costumes

1967

 

The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

The Glass Bottom Boat

6.5

costume sketch artist (uncredited)

1966

 

The King Family Show

7.2

TV Series

costumer

1965–1966

36 episodes

 

Judy Garland and Peggy Lee in The Judy Garland Show (1963)

The Judy Garland Show

8.9

TV Series

assistant costume designer

1963–1964

6 episodes

 

Actor

Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in Hacks (2021)

Hacks

8.2

TV Series

Bob Mackie

2026

1 episode

 

Tales of the City (1993)

Tales of the City

8.3

TV Mini Series

Richard Evan Hampton

1993

2 episodes

 

Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange, Gavin MacLeod, and Lauren Tewes in The Love Boat (1977)

The Love Boat

6.3

TV Series

Bob Mackie

1981

2 episodes

 

Director

The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour (1978)

The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour

5.8

TV Series

Director

1978

 

Thanks

The Red Carpet with Carol Burnett and Friends (2023)

The Red Carpet with Carol Burnett and Friends

TV Special

special thanks

2023

 

Edith Head in Edith Head: The Paramount Years (2002)

Edith Head: The Paramount Years

6.2

Video

special thanks

2002

 

Self

Mario Lopez and Scott Evans in Access Hollywood (1996)

Access Hollywood

3.2

TV Series

Self

2025

1 episode

 

Gayle King, Nate Burleson, and Tony Dokoupil in CBS Mornings (2021)

CBS Mornings

3.7

TV Series

Self

2025

1 episode

 

I Am Raquel Welch (2025)

I Am Raquel Welch

7.2

Self

2025

 

Tamron Hall in Tamron Hall (2019)

Tamron Hall

4.4

TV Series

Self - Guest

2025

1 episode

 

Good Morning America (1975)

Good Morning America Weekend Edition

5.2

TV Series

Self - Guest

2023–2024

2 episodes

 

Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion (2024)

Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion

7.4

Self

2024

 

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love (2023)

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love

8.3

TV Special

Self - Guest

2023

 

RuPaul's Drag Race (2009)

RuPaul's Drag Race

8.5

TV Series

Self - Guest JudgeSelf - Special Guest

2009–2023

5 episodes

 

A Disturbance in the Force (2023)

A Disturbance in the Force

6.8

Self

2023

 

Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie in Today (1952)

Today

4.6

TV Series

Self - Guest

2019–2021

2 episodes

 

Billy Masters in Billy Masters LIVE! (2020)

Billy Masters LIVE!

TV Series

Self

2020

1 episode

 

Vanna White and Ryan Seacrest in Wheel of Fortune (1983)

Wheel of Fortune

6.7

TV Series

Self

2020

2 episodes

 

James Corden in The 73rd Annual Tony Awards (2019)

The 73rd Annual Tony Awards

5.4

TV Special

Self - Winner

2019

 

Broadway.com Front Row (2018)

Broadway.com Front Row

TV Series

Self

2018

1 episode

 

Robin Baumgarten and Larry Potash in WGN Morning News (1994)

WGN Morning News

6.4

TV Series

Self

2018

1 episode

 

The Toys That Made Us (2017)

The Toys That Made Us

7.9

TV Series

Self

2017

1 episode

 

The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special (2017)

The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special

8.1

TV Special

Self - Guest

2017

 

The 30th Annual Gypsy Awards

TV Special

Self

2017

 

Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime (2017)

Marilyn Monroe: Auction of a Lifetime

6.5

Self

2017

 

The Annual Professional Dancers Society Gypsy Awards

TV Special

Self

2016

 

The Queen Latifah Show (2013)

The Queen Latifah Show

4.8

TV Series

Self

2014

1 episode

 

Joan Rivers, Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos in Fashion Police (2002)

Fashion Police

6.2

TV Series

Self

2013

1 episode

 

RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked! (2009)

RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked!

7.7

TV Series

Self - Guest Judge

2013

1 episode

 

The Annual Professional Dancers Society Gypsy Awards

TV Special

Self

2013

 

The Annual Professional Dancers Society Presents Gypsy Award

TV Special

Self

2012

 

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012)

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life

7.6

Self

2012

 

The 16th Annual Satellite Awards

TV Special

Self - Presenter

2011

 

2011 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (2011)

2011 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

5.3

TV Special

Self - Presenter

2011

 

Academy Awards: Iconic Stars, Legendary Fashions

TV Movie

Self

2011

 

Project Runway (2004)

Project Runway

7.4

TV Series

Self - Guest Judge

2009

1 episode

 

Florence Henderson in The Florence Henderson Show (2007)

The Florence Henderson Show

6.2

TV Series

Self

2009

1 episode

 

Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years (2008)

Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years

8.5

Video

Self

2008

 

Oprah Winfrey in The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986)

The Oprah Winfrey Show

5.0

TV Series

Self

2008

1 episode

 

Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner in Entertainment Tonight (1981)

Entertainment Tonight

3.6

TV Series

Self

2008

1 episode

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

Self

2007

1 episode

 

Biography (1987)

Biography

7.7

TV Series

Self

2001–2006

3 episodes

 

Behind the Blues: Lady Sings the Blues

6.2

Video

Self

2005

 

Inside TV Land (2000)

Inside TV Land

3.6

TV Series

Self

2003–2005

2 episodes

 

The 3rd Annual TV Land Awards

6.3

TV Special

Self

2005

 

Pennies from Heaven: 20th Anniversary Cast and Crew Reunion

Video

Self - Costume Designer

2004

 

E! True Hollywood Story (1996)

E! True Hollywood Story

6.5

TV Series

Self

2003

2 episodes

 

The 5th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards

TV Special

Self

2003

 

Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Tony Kaye, Chris Squire, Peter Banks, and Yes in Top Ten (1995)

Top Ten

6.0

TV Series

Self

2002

1 episode

 

Edith Head in Edith Head: The Paramount Years (2002)

Edith Head: The Paramount Years

6.2

Video

Self - Fashion Designer

2002

 

Still Cher

8.8

TV Movie

Self

2002

 

It's Burlesque

TV Movie

Self

2001

 

Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001)

Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers

7.9

TV Special

Self

2001

 

The Annual American Choreography Awards

TV Special

Self - Presenter

2001

 

Behind the Music (1997)

Behind the Music

7.4

TV Series

Self

1999

1 episode

 

Moon Over Broadway (1997)

Moon Over Broadway

7.2

Self

1997

 

My Fair Lady (1964)

The Making of 'My Fair Lady'

7.3

Video

Self

1995

 

The Hollywood Fashion Machine

7.7

TV Movie

Self

1995

 

The Carol Burnett Show (1967)

The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion

8.7

TV Special

Self (uncredited)

1993

 

Vicki Lawrence in Vicki! (1992)

Vicki!

5.9

TV Series

Self

1992

1 episode

 

The Sixth Annual Council Fashion Designers of America Awards

TV Special

Self

1987

 

Fame, Fortune and Romance

TV Series

Self

1986

1 episode

 

Melissa Sue Anderson in Sex Symbols: Past, Present and Future (1986)

Sex Symbols: Past, Present and Future

6.3

TV Movie

Self

1986

 

Night of 100 Stars II (1985)

Night of 100 Stars II

7.4

TV Special

Self

1985

 

The Toni Tennille Show (1980)

The Toni Tennille Show

6.4

TV Series

Self

1980

1 episode

 

Omnibus (1980)

Omnibus

6.6

TV Series

Self

1980

1 episode

 

Mike Douglas in The Mike Douglas Show (1961)

The Mike Douglas Show

7.0

TV Series

Self - Fashion Designer

1976–1979

6 episodes

 

Not for Women Only

TV Series

Self

1975

1 episode

 

The 1975 Fashion Awards

TV Special

Self - Winner

1975

 

Archive Footage

David Muir in World News Tonight with David Muir (1953)

World News Tonight with David Muir

5.4

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2026

1 episode

 

Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner in Entertainment Tonight (1981)

Entertainment Tonight

3.6

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2023–2026

3 episodes

 

Mario Lopez and Scott Evans in Access Hollywood (1996)

Access Hollywood

3.2

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2025

1 episode

 

The Little Pageant That Could (2024)

The Little Pageant That Could

6.2

Self (archive footage)

2024

 

RuPaul's Drag Race (2009)

RuPaul's Drag Race

8.5

TV Series

Self - Guest Judge (archive footage)

2009–2014

4 episodes

 

Felicity Green obit

Felicity Green, trailblazing fashion journalist who helped launch the Biba look in the 1960s

 

She was not on the list.

Felicity Green, who has died aged 100, was the most influential fashion editor of the 1960s and the first woman to be appointed to the board of a national newspaper.

As fashion editor of the Daily Mirror at a time when the paper was selling more than five million copies a day, “Felicity Green on the fashion scene” was one of the first to write about Twiggy and Mary Quant and was instrumental in launching the Biba look which swept all before it in the mid-1960s.

It was in 1964 that she asked Barbara Hulanicki, who had previously worked as a fashion illustrator on the Mirror and was now running a small mail-order company, to design a dress as an offer for readers. She promoted the outfit, a gingham dress and matching headscarf costing less than £3, in a full-page spread, expecting it to win 3,000 orders at best.

When 17,000 orders came flooding in, the Biba look was born. Soon, Biba opened its first boutique on Abingdon Road in Kensington and within five years it had opened a five-storey department store on Kensington High Street – a temple of fashion noted for its decadent atmosphere and languid sales assistants in black lipstick and green nail varnish.

Felicity Green followed a clear philosophy. Eschewing the high-end Paris collections, she wrote features in which fashion related to ordinary people’s lives, budgets and even attitudes. She herself, she explained, had never been fashionable: “Fashion needs to be followed at a very, very respectful distance. My blueprint for fashion is to be simple and stylish.”

Not everyone was impressed, however. Cecil King, chairman of the post-war Daily Mirror, once threatened to fire Felicity Green for running a feature on mini-skirts, expostulating: “How long are you going to continue to put those ridiculous clothes in my newspaper? Can you imagine the wife of a Sheffield bus-driver wearing that?” But it was King who was later fired.

Felicity Green was eventually promoted to be executive women’s editor across all three Mirror group titles and in 1973 was appointed publicity director, becoming, in the words of a trade magazine, the first director “to powder her nose before a board meeting.”

By this time she had learnt to deal with such casual misogyny. However when in 1978 she discovered that a newly appointed board member, a male journalist, was being paid £30,000 a year, more than twice her own salary of £14,000, she resigned in outrage.

The only child of Emanuel Green and his wife Annie, Felicity Green was born on June 26 1926 and grew up in poverty above a bike shop in Dagenham. Her parents’ marriage was not happy. Her mother was totally deaf and her father had a terrible temper, so she found herself acting as peace-maker during their frequent rows. Felicity’s passion for fashion was fired by outings with her father to the cinema, where she fell in love with the clothes worn by the Hollywood movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s.

After a stint as “the worst pupil Pitmans ever had”, Felicity Green landed her first job as a secretary at a magazine entitled Woman & Beauty, where, before she was allowed to sit behind a typewriter, she had to walk the office dog and make the coal fires and coffee.

Within a couple of years she impressed the editor-in-chief enough to be promoted to fashion editor, though she was still treated as a dogsbody. On one occasion she was invited by the editor to meet Harold Wilson, a rising star in the Labour Party firmament who was then President of the Board of Trade. She accepted with alacrity but there was a twist. “I had given myself one of the first Toni perms, and the editor wanted me to give one to Mary Wilson, who was coming with Harold… While the great and the good had drinks, I did the perm in the bathroom and got a thank you poem from Mary.”

She moved on to become fashion editor of Housewife, and then to an advertising agency. It was while she was there, in 1955, that Hugh Cudlipp, then editorial director of the Daily Mirror, called to ask her what she thought of a paper he had launched called the Woman’s Sunday Mirror.

She wrote a fierce critique and what followed was “an odd meeting” in which Cudlipp “assumed I would be joining.” She became associate editor of the new journal, beginning a long association with the Mirror group.

The Woman’s Sunday Mirror did not last long, but Felicity moved on to the Sunday Pictorial (later the Sunday Mirror) and in 1961 joined the Daily Mirror as associate editor – the highest-flying female journalist in Fleet Street.

She recalled being warned by a colleague that to survive in the masculine world of newspapers, she must understand that many of her colleagues would resent having to work for a woman: “You will have to give some of them a bollocking from time to time, but do it gracefully and always let him leave your room with his balls intact.” It was, she recalled, a very good piece of advice.

Part of her remit was to inject the paper with a more “feminine” feel, and in her first week there the features editor proudly announced that he had been doing some special work for her pages and had worked up “some nice borders with bows”. She had to let him down gently. After she had been there for a few months one of the sub-editors remarked that she must be relieved now that “all that hatred has disappeared.” “And I said, ‘Hatred?’ And he said, ‘You mean you didn’t notice it?’”

She recalled that all the senior executives had well-stocked refrigerators in their offices and that drinking would begin after the morning editorial conference and continue until the early afternoon, by which time the morning staff were too drunk to do the paper, so a whole new team would come in. She refused to participate.

But she felt that some of the prejudice against women in the workplace was understandable. When she became a director of the group in the mid-1960s, she inherited a section of the paper where all the heads of department were men, ruling the roost over girls who were in many cases much more talented than they were. “I made it my business to promote these women. But within two years, every single one had left to have a family.”

After resigning from the Mirror Felicity Green ran the UK office of Vidal Sassoon, but later returned to journalism, helping to launch Working Woman magazine and advising the boards of the Express, the Telegraph and the publishers of M&S Magazine.

For five years in the 1990s she was a senior lecturer on the Saint Martin’s School of Art fashion journalism course and later she became a mentor of fashion journalism students at the school. In 2014 she published Sex, Sense and Nonsense: Felicity Green on the ’60s Fashion Scene.

She was appointed OBE for services to journalism in 2012.

Felicity Green married, in 1952, Geoffrey Hill; he died in 1992. She had never wanted children, fearing that she would not be a good mother, but during an appearance as a castaway on Desert Island Discs in 2011 she confessed that she would have loved grandchildren.

Felicity Green, born June 26 1926, died September 10 2026

Nigel Cabourn obit

Obituary: Nigel Cabourn, celebrated British fashion designer (1949-2026)

 He was not on the list.

Nigel Cabourn, one of the UK’s most respected and well-loved designers, has died of cancer, aged 77.

Like his contemporaries and friends, Sir Paul Smith and Margaret Howell, Cabourn was most revered in Japan, where his main brand and various sub-brands have enjoyed cult status since the early 1980s.

His reputation at home would be much better if he had not chosen to remain firmly based in Jesmond, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, far from the London fashion scene. It was in 1969 when he started his first menswear brand – Cricket – while still a student at Newcastle College of Art and Industrial Design (now Northumbria University).

Born on 7 October 1949 near Scunthorpe, Cabourn spent his teens in the new town of Peterlee, County Durham, where his father was the postmaster. Cabourn admitted he fancied doing fashion design at college when a friend told him it would be a good place to meet girls.

In almost 60 years as a designer, Cabourn enjoyed all the ups and downs the fashion industry can present. Cricket did very well until 1984, when cashflow issues ended its run even though Cabourn was backed by Manchester-based menswear company Impeccable.

After Cricket’s liquidation, Cabourn preferred to use his own name for his principal collections and he avoided overstretching himself financially. But like many passionate designers, he was never overly concerned with making money.

Producing garments - especially outerwear - based on old-school attention to detail, passionate pursuit of quality, and, in many instances, using UK-made fabrics, was more Cabourn’s style.

When I interviewed him last November, he told me he saw himself as a clothing designer, not a fashion designer: “I’m a very functional designer. I’ve been lucky to do what I wanted to do, what I believed in.”

In the immediate post-Cricket years Cabourn was obliged to follow a more commercial path, creating designs for Next for Men, French Connection and Philip Start’s London-based menswear mini-chain, Woodhouse. In 1985 Woman magazine named Cabourn Designer of the Year for his work with Woodhouse – the first time the accolade had gone to a menswear designer.

On the Cricket stand at the Paris menswear fair Sehm in 1979, Cabourn met Sam Sugure, a Japanese wholesaler who had taken Margaret Howell to Japan. After Sugure laid down a massive order worth £250,000, the pair became partners and Cabourn’s Japanese adventure began.

By 1986 a few Nigel Cabourn stores had been opened in Japan. Since January 2025 his Japanese licence has belonged to major trading house Marubeni. There are now 11 stores selling Japanese-made Main Line garments designed in Cabourn’s studio in Jesmond. Japanese customers are also offered Nigel Cabourn womenswear, Cabourn’s premium British-made Authentic line, his workwear brand, Lybro, and the retro sportswear-inspired Army Gym range.

Currently Marubeni handles all online sales from Japan. It remains to be seen if a UK-based ecommerce business will be revived. Globally, Nigel Cabourn has about 20 wholesale stockists for Authentic, typically premium independents such as The Bureau in Belfast and 14oz in Berlin. Global turnover for the Nigel Cabourn brand is about £10m.

The Jesmond studio is home to an amazing archive of 3,000 books and 4,000-plus vintage pieces, primarily military uniforms, workwear, practical outerwear and active sportswear. Cabourn was given his first military jacket in the late 1970s by Paul Smith, who at the time was selling some of Cabourn’s early tailored suits to wholesale customers.

Nearly six decades later, Nige, as he was known to his legions of pals and associates worldwide, was busy sharing stories about his visits to flea markets and vintage specialists to his 310,000 Instagram followers.

Since the millennium, Cabourn has been best known for the inspiration he took from Everest mountaineers George Mallory and Edmund Hillary, and Polar explorers like Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. His main collections – regarded as vintage pieces of the future – were not aimed at the mainstream. His classic Everest Parka, for example, retails for £3,100

A perpetually cheerful soul, “Nige” told me during our interview that he liked being nice to people. He was smart enough to realise that collaborations with other, larger brands made financial sense to a small design-led company like his. Partners in the past three decades have included Alpha Industries, Banana Republic, Converse, Eddie Bauer, Filson, Fred Perry, Gloverall, Henri-Lloyd, London Fog, Karrimor, Peak Performance, Red Wing Boots, Rocky Mountain and Umbro.

It was only in the past few years that his famous energy began to weaken as he passed through his seventies. He finally succumbed to a recurrence of cancer, dying peacefully at home in Jesmond on 11 June.

John Loring obit

Legendary Tiffany & Co. design director John Loring dead at age 86

 He was not on the list.

He was a real gem.

Tiffany & Co.’s John Loring passed away this week in Palm Beach at the age of 86.

Loring worked as the design director for the fabled company from 1979 to 2009, shaping the company’s legacy into what it is today. He was named design director emeritus of the brand following his retirement.

He wrote numerous books about Tiffany, several edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis when she was at Doubleday.

Tiffany & Co. told us in a statement that the company are “deeply saddened by the passing of John Loring, whose creativity and vision helped shape the House’s modern identity.”

“For three decades, he served as Design Director of Tiffany & Co. and remained a devoted steward of its heritage, bringing its history to life through his writing and curatorial work while ensuring its legacy continued to inspire new generations,” it continues. “He will be remembered not only for his extraordinary contributions, but also for his enduring passion for beauty and craftsmanship.”

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew him. His legacy remains an indelible part of Tiffany & Co.’s story,” they said.

A graduate of Yale, Loring had previously worked as the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest. He also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and his prints and paintings have been displayed at Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Met.

He also served on MoMA’s Acquisitions Committee for the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books.

In his role at Tiffanys, he traveled the world to select the items that would be sold in stores, growing from just seven locations when he started to the global powerhouse it is today.

A 1992 New Yorker article described Loring as a “luxury-goods impresario, commissioning watches in Switzerland, pottery in Portugal, vases in Murano, printed silks for scarves and neckties in Como, hand-painted porcelains in Paris.”

While frequently called an arbiter of taste, he seemed to bristle at the title, saying in the article, “The usual thought of an arbiter of taste is a repulsive one, because it leads to sameness in the world, and is killing to the imagination.”

Columbia University has an archive of Loring’s papers from 1961 until 2020, which documents “his wide range of friends and admirers,” including European royalty like Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark and her sister, Queen Anna Maria of Greece; Peggy Guggenheim, Ray Johnson, Harold Pinter, Joseph Losey, Tiffany designers Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso, and celebrities like Bette Davis, Joseph Losey, Ray Johnson, and “Ultra Violet.”

Famed celebrity photographer Harry Benson boasted of his friend in a 2011 article in the Palm Beach Post, “John is one of the most interesting people I’ve met and known. He knows an awful lot about everything, and he’s not tiresome with it. He’s got good manners, meaning he’s got time for everybody no matter who they are. People leave him knowing more than when they went in.”

John Loring was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 23, 1939.

Prior to joining Tiffany in 1979 as design director, Loring was the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest, as well as having been one of the magazine's principal editorial contributors. He was also a professor of art at the graduate school of the University of California.[

Loring earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Yale University in 1960. After graduating, he continued his studies for four more years at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Since 1964, his prints and paintings have been exhibited in Europe and the United States.

He continued to write on art and design. He served on the Acquisitions Committee of The Museum of Modern Art's Department of Prints and Illustrated Books. He was also a serious collector of 20th-century furniture and ceramics. His interests in cooking and interior design have been recognized in major publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, L’Oeil, Arbitare, GQ, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Gala, The New Yorker, and French Vogue. He was honored with the feature profile in The New Yorker in the August 10, 1992, issue.