Cher and Bob Mackie on six decades of iconic fashion
For the past 60 years, Cher has dominated pop culture, and now, that legacy and consistency will be celebrated in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Cleveland institution has opened an exhibit of what it describes as musical “artifacts” from the careers of the legendary musicians to be honoured as part of its 2024 induction, including a dress that singer Dionne Warwick wore to host the Solid Gold variety show in 1980, and the outfit that rocker Peter Frampton wore on the cover of his 1976 live album Frampton Comes Alive!
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Among the artifacts will be three iconic looks drawn from Cher’s career: the costume she wore in the 1990 movie Mermaids, designed by Patty Spinale and Gail Baldoni of the Boston Ballet company, alongside a red fringed dress and a purple Sonny & Cher–inspired '60s-style ensemble — both Bob Mackie originals she wore for her Living Proof farewell tour in the early 2000s. (Twenty-odd years later, the icon is not going anywhere, thankfully. In fact, she wore the purple number onstage again for her Here We Go Again tour from 2018 to 2020). With the first part of a two-part memoir out in November, Cher is once again about to be the topic of a lot of conversation.
Courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Mackie’s sketch for the red fringe number Cher wore on her Living Proof: The Farewell Tour
Mackie’s sketch for the ’60s-inspired look Cher wore to perform a Sonny & Cher medley on her Living Proof and Here We Go Again tours
To mark the opening of the Rock Hall exhibit, Cher and Mackie gave Harper’s Bazaar an exclusive look at the outfits on display, as well as the original design sketches, and shared a few choice life lessons from their time making fashion history together.
“When I look at his sketches and costumes throughout the course of my career,” Cher says, “I am reminded again and again that there is simply no end to the talent and influence Bob Mackie has had on me.” The feeling, says Mackie, is mutual. “As a designer whose main job was to dress the most amazingly put-together lady, someone as gorgeous as our girl Cher — it was a job from heaven!”
A close-up of Cher’s Mermaids costume, designed by Patty Spinale and Gail Baldoni of the Boston Ballet company
The longtime collaborators met in 1967 on the set of The Carol Burnett Show, where Cher and then-husband Sonny Bono were guest stars, and quickly discovered they were made for each other — her fearlessness was a perfect complement to Mackie’s adventurous approach to design. “We never thought about her outfits as 'fashion', but a way to perfectly portray famous characters from history,” says Mackie. “Queen Elizabeth I, or maybe the snake from the Garden of Eden, or why not Olive Oyl, Popeye’s best gal? There was no end to what characters [Cher] could or would play!”
Ron Galella / Getty Images
Asked to reflect on one the most memorable looks the two created together, both highlight the infamous “naked dress” that Mackie calls the “nude illusion gown”. Cher arrived at the 1974 Met Gala on Mackie’s arm wearing the sheer, sequinned, be-feathered ensemble. It was instantly iconic, making such a splash that she later wore it on the cover of Time magazine in a photo taken by Richard Avedon. “Many towns in the United States banned this ‘shocking’ issue from the newsstands,” recalls Mackie. “They’re still quite collectible.”
The outsize reaction to the dress taught Cher what she says was one of the most enduring lessons to come out of her partnership with Mackie. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks,” she says, before reflecting on an interaction she had at that Met Gala 50 years ago. “A man came up to me and said, in a very rude, dismissive way, ‘How does it feel to be naked?’ And I said, ‘It feels great.’ ”
The annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ on 19 October.
