Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis: Bob Mackie – Naked Illusion
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“It’s very Ta-Da!” (Bob Mackie)
If you’re familiar with the name of costume designer Bob Mackie, it’s likely because his collaboration with Cher unwrapped and gift wrapped her extraordinary body in groundbreaking ways that changed the face of fashion as well as costume.
Over six decades, Mackie also invented every gown and getup for The Carol Burnett Show, including the ensemble Starlett O’Hara concocted of her fringed, velvet curtains – replete with horizontal curtain rod balanced across the shoulders, and Burnett’s lovable Charwoman. The comedienne herself talks (on film) about how she zeroed in on his work. No one could keep a straight face when they saw O’Hara’s gown. Burnett bit the inside of her cheek. The designer originated 17,000 costumes over 11 years.
Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Dinah Shore – The Carol Burnett Show 1977 (Public Domain)
Mackie created the first naked dress (strategically placed adornment on translucent chiffon) for inaugural star client, Mitzi Gaynor, to whom the film is dedicated. Interviewed before she passed this year, Gaynor describes negotiations concerning the dress’s construct. “You couldn’t see anything,” designer Tom Ford comments (on film). “You just thought you could.” (Not true today.)
The subject swathed Bernadette Peters, present on stage, over 56 years; took Elton John to an entirely new level of visual extravagance – “Elton would try anything” – and created the infamous gown in which Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday Mr. President to John F. Kennedy. He was 21! Don’t ask him about Kim Kardashian’s having borrowed it. “Don’t, just don’t,” warns Joe McFate, Mackie’s Design Director of 24 years, from across the room.
Courtesy of Bob Mackie-Naked Illusion
Others he dressed, in part, include Judy Garland, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Ann-Margret, Pink, Miley Cyrus, Liza Minnelli, Carol Channing, Bette Midler, and RuPaul. More than one client in the documentary declares she didn’t have to do anything special, that Mackie had done all the work.
The film to which we’re treated tonight before Mallis’s usual conversation, explores the career of a practitioner whose tailoring rivals couture, whose awareness of movement and character is embedded, and whose imagination is equal only to the devotion of those he dresses. Despite his self avowedly obsessive work ethic, there’s no doubt the artist has fun.
Cher (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
“You think you’re going to be in the room with this arrogant queen, and he’s just the nicest, quietest man! I call it quiet power.” (Pink) We watch her fly above an audience in an ersatz silk swing barely covered in strips of shimmering cloth.
Narrative is not in chronological order. The film darts around from The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award and Metropolitan Museum Gala – “I was just doing my job. I never thought about legacy” – to drawing with his recently discovered great grandchildren. The designer’s only son died young. He and his ex-wife (they’re still good friends) never knew the grandchildren existed. An extended family has come together. Questions unearth emotional moments. Filmmakers are discreet.
Sketching has always been paramount, not true of many designers. Mackie’s are artful, detailed, and character driven. We watch some of them being executed, then see the attired celebrity. Musical numbers help us understand flexibility and aesthetics.
Left: Law Roach; Right: Zac Posen (Courtesy of the film)
Hal Rubenstein, writer, designer, and one of the founding editors at InStyle magazine, was a waiter with Glorious Food at an early Met Gala. He poetically describes observing Lillian Gish in candlelight and then what occurs (erupts) when Cher enters the room dressed by Mackie. “A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed.” (Mackie’s understatement.) The motivation behind Cher’s feather headdress and two piece, part “naked” gown at The Academy Awards is disclosed. She speaks intermittently throughout the film.
Fashion Designer Zac Posen re the camp portion of Mackie’s work: “It’s great if done with love, technique and care,” and Law Roach: “There’s a certain thing that happens when you put the right girl in the right dress,” speak with admiration. Costume designer Gregg Barnes left another career trajectory encouraged and inspired by Mackie. It’s safe to say he adores the man. A loyal artisan seamstress praises the designer’s precise preparatory work – which is quite something to see. “There’s nothing wrong with doing things right,” Mackie says. We hear a little about his mostly solitary childhood and family. High school prom anyone?
Director Matthew Miele preceded this documentary with Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s and Always at The Carlyle – among others. They’re both fine films. “I look for optimism and whimsy,” he tells us. “And a film has to have breadth.”
Though a little long, the film covers almost every aspect of Bob Mackie’s colorful life. It’s warm, entertaining, and illuminating. A must for any design aspirant, a treat for every fashionista, a pleasure for those who value divas. Mackie appears as likeable as he is talented, handsome, lively, and present at 85.
Fern Mallis is a former senior vice president of IMG Fashion, executive director of CFDA, and author of Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis published by Rizzoli. She’s currently the president of her own leading international fashion and design consultancy, Fern Mallis LLC.
Opening photo: Bob Mackie Courtesy of the film
92Y at Lexington Avenue and 92nd Street
Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion
Directed and Written by Matthew Miele
Produced by Anne Chertoff Tavelin, Joe McFate
The documentary is playing festivals and will undoubtedly be picked up by a streaming service
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