Bob Mackie Dies at 87: The "Sultan of Sequins" Who Dressed Cher, Marilyn Monroe and More

Bob Mackie, the costume and fashion designer known for decades of glittering celebrity gowns, has died at 87. The news broke through a statement posted to his Instagram account, which read in part: "It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today," as quoted in reports from CBS News, Rolling Stone and NPR.

What do we actually know about how he died?

Here the reporting diverges slightly, and it's worth being precise about who said what. CBS News reported that Mackie's publicist confirmed he died in Palm Springs, California, from pneumonia. That's a specific, sourced claim -- but it comes from CBS's account of the publicist's confirmation, not from a separately published statement that's available to check directly. Rolling Stone's report on the same Instagram statement said no cause of death was given in the post itself. In other words: the Instagram announcement did not state a cause, and the pneumonia/Palm Springs detail rests specifically on CBS's sourcing of the publicist. Readers should treat the cause of death as reported by CBS, not as independently confirmed across all outlets.

Why was he called the "Sultan of Sequins"?

The nickname, cited across CBS, Rolling Stone and other reporting, reflects Mackie's signature aesthetic: beaded, sheer and heavily embellished gowns designed to catch stage and camera light. That style defined his best-known collaborations, most famously with Cher. CBS's report describes one of the most reproduced images of his career: a sheer beaded gown with white feathered sleeves and a matching feathered skirt that Cher wore to the 1974 Met Gala, with Mackie on her arm. He later designed for "The Cher Show" as well, extending a partnership that spanned television and stage.

Mackie's client list extended well beyond Cher. According to NPR and Rolling Stone, he also dressed Elton John and Diana Ross over the course of his career. And CBS's report ties him to one of the most famous dresses in American pop culture: Marilyn Monroe's sheer, beaded gown for her "Happy Birthday" performance at a fundraiser for President John F. Kennedy, one of the most recognized garments in 20th-century American entertainment history.

What other TV and stage work was he known for?

Mackie's career wasn't limited to red-carpet moments and one-off gowns. He spent years designing wardrobe for "The Carol Burnett Show," a long-running collaboration cited in reporting from CBS News and NPR. That partnership with Carol Burnett, stretched across the show's run, helped establish Mackie as a go-to designer for television variety spectacle, not just individual celebrity portraits. Combined with his stage work for "The Cher Show," his career bridged film, television and Broadway, giving him a body of work that shaped how audiences pictured glamour across multiple entertainment mediums for decades.

What awards did he win?

According to CBS News and Rolling Stone, Mackie's career was recognized with nine Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, a haul that reflects the breadth of his work across television costuming and stage design. Those honors, spanning multiple decades of his career, underscore why obituaries have repeatedly framed him as one of the defining costume designers of American entertainment, someone whose sequined, beaded silhouettes became inseparable from the public images of the stars who wore them.

The bottom line

Bob Mackie's death at 87 closes out a career that helped define what glamour looked like on American television, film and stage for more than half a century. Whatever the precise final medical details turn out to be, his legacy is already fixed in the record: the feathered Cher gown from the 1974 Met Gala, Marilyn Monroe's sheer beaded dress, years of costuming for Carol Burnett, and a trophy case that includes nine Emmys and a Tony. Outlets including NPR, CBS News and Rolling Stone all point to the same core facts, even where small details about his final days differ.