Bob Mackie designs for Cher, Carol Burnett to be auctioned
Los Angeles: Renowned designer Bob Mackie’s outfits for singer Cher and actress Carol Burnett are being auctioned.
Julien’s Auctions is offering outfits worn by Cher and Sharon Tate to bidders beginning Saturday in their Icons and Idols: Hollywood, Street and Contemporary Art auction.
Along with actress Marilyn Monroe’s jet black 1955 Thunderbird convertible, these are the headliners at an eclectic auction also featuring street art by Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader, Retna and even a coat belonging to Jean-Michel Basquiat, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
“We sort of talked about doing this a year and a half ago,” legendary designer Bob Mackie said as he takes a break from “The Cher Show”, in previews on Broadway.
He added: “We picked out things that were fun, ones that I actually own, cause Cher owns all of her stuff. So, I have them for one reason or another. I didn’t steal them!”
Cher made headlines at the 1974 Academy Awards in a hand-painted silk ensemble with a cape, bandeau top with a scarf, and low-waisted layered skirt, up for bid at $4,000-$6,000. Also on hand are gowns made for Burnett as well as costumes from “The Carol Burnett Show”, on which Mackie worked in the 1960s.
It’s where he met Cher, who hired him to do outfits for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (also up for auction), with Mackie working both shows simultaneously. He went on to pick up nine Emmy Awards and three Oscar nominations over a career spanning 50 years.
“Oddly enough, they’re so different and yet there’re so many things about the two of them that are exactly the same. They’re both smart and both have great instincts, and yet they were the same exact size. You’d never think they had the same figure,” Mackie said of Cher and Burnett.
“If Carol thought it would be too naked, she’d be, ‘Naa’. Cher, she would put anything on.”
That includes the “nude” dress that she wore to the 1974 Met Gala.
“I said, ‘What do you want to wear?’. I wanna wear my nude dress,” was her reply, referring to a sheer beaded gown (not up for auction) with white feathered sleeves and matching trim that left little to the imagination.
“Your new dress or your nude dress?” Mackie asked. “And she wore it. And, of course, she was in every newspaper the next day. She’s not a dumb girl.”
Also underestimated is the owner of the black Thunderbird, parked across the showroom, which Monroe drove for six years before gifting it to acting coach Lee Strasberg’s son for his 18th birthday, mere months before her suicide.
Items belonging to a another tragic figure from the 1960s are on display a few steps away, including Sharon Tate’s wedding dress, an ivory silk moire mini, worn to her 1968 marriage to Roman Polanski in London.