Adieu to Bob Mackie
We have lost several very special people in the last few weeks, and the latest is Bob Mackie.
Dubbed the “Designer to the Stars,” Mackie won nine Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and was nominated for three Oscars, including one for Barbra Streisand’s “Funny Lady”. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 2002.
As a teenager I dreamed of being a fashion designer, creating fabulous evening gowns, and Bob was part of that inspiration. I also idolized the work of Edith Head, and probably watched way too many black and white films as a kid. But in my career path that started in fashion design, and eventually led to textile design, the quilt industry, and textile artist…..Bob’s wild innovative creations were definitely part of the prologue.
As you may know, I got my fashion design degree at FIDM – LA. (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising – Los Angeles) I was firmly in the ‘starving student’ column when I moved to Los Angeles. However I found roommates in West Hollywood (We lived across the street from Bette Davis) and got a job across the street from the FIDM campus. I went to school from 8 am to noon, then ran across the street to work at Joseph Magnin from noon to 9 pm. Homework was always done late at night. I had to get up at 6 am to catch a 7 am bus downtown. Pretty brutal schedule. But I was young and full of boundless energy and ambition.
After my first year at FIDM I found new roommates in West Hollywood. They were a gay couple….one was a graduating student at FIDM and the other was a Men’s department manager at Joseph Magnin. So I could catch a ride home in the evening.
My 2nd year at FIDM things were looking up. I had a full scholarship, and had friends to give me a ride downtown. My roommate who graduated before me, got a job with Bob Mackie. That was just about the most fabulous job a graduate could hope for! Many of us dreamed of getting jobs designing costumes, and working in the film industry. That was my plan, but fate had other ideas….
My graduate project was a 2-piece ensemble made of silk. (I wish I had a photo, but I was too poor to own a camera back then.) The manager of the Women’s department at Magnin’s, was married to a director who was nominated for an Oscar that year, and she needed something to wear. Somehow, she decided that out of all the gowns and fancy dresses at Magnin’s, she wanted to purchase and wear my graduate project.
Based on that, my roommate lined up an entry level job in Bob Mackie’s studio for when I graduated. Sadly, there was a writer and director strike that happened just as I was finishing school. The job disappeared and I was on the hunt for income again. I requested to be transferred to the Century City (Beverly Hills) Joseph Magnin. Well, I got that job, and hung on for 6 months (often working with the film industry as what would be called today – a stylist) to get my design job. Later the FIDM placement officer told me that I was the only person in that graduating class who got a design job right out of school. Everyone else had patternmaking jobs, or worse.
That next job with a silk dress company took me to Hong Kong eventually, and then another chapter unfolded. But, that is another story….
However my purpose in this post is to express gratitude to Mr Mackie for inspiring this small town girl to greater things. I did not get to know him personally, but over the years I’ve had several friends who worked with him, including my friend Lee Eiseman who I know from the Color Marketing Group, and Pantone. He was a non-stop gushing fountain of color and splashy design genius, and was a good human being on top of it all. So rare in today’s world of celebrity.
I suppose my 3 entries to the Bernina Fashion Show had some Mackie in their DNA. The first year my entry ended up on the cover of the show book.
By the 2nd year in the show, I had become a Bernina Ambassador.
For the 3rd and last show (also the last year of the Bernina Fashion Show) I pulled out all the stops and used a wild combination of South African metallic-stamped sunprints, Indian silk dupioni, French gold wire closures, Vietnamese silk jacquard, holographic fabric bought at the Las Vegas textile show, Chinese silk brocade & silk/rayon burnout chiffon, $250/yd beaded lace, and Swarovski Crystals.
They were all draped on my New York fashion industry dress form.
For many years after the Spring Quilt Market, I would go to the big design show at the Javits Center in NYC, then I’d meet the art director from Kaufman to see the Costume exhibit at the Met. (and maybe a Broadway show)
I still love to see what is being worn on the Red Carpet for the award shows and film festivals. It’s all froth and fantasy, but it is the same reason I sit in the front row at the opera….it’s all about the costumes and the fabric.
Thanks Bob, for leading me into this wonderful world of sparkles and textiles.
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