#COSTUME DESIGNS

[100gayicons]

Many gay men will be able to relate to Bob Mackie’s early life. His father had no interest in him, and his mother handed him off to his grandmother to raise. As a boy, he preferred drawing alone in his room over playing sports outside with other boys.

In high school in a Los Angeles suburb, he designed costumes for talent shows. He met Marianne Wolford and asked her to the senior prom. She would get pregnant, and they got married in 1960.

Marianne became a professional dancer and actress (changing her name to Lulu Porter). While she traveled for her work, Bob attended design school. In an interview, he described the guilt he felt, realizing he was gay and deceiving his wife. He didn’t want to lead a double life, so he told Lulu the truth. They divorced in 1963 but remained friends.

While attending Chouinard Art Institute in Westlake, Mackie was offered the opportunity to be a sketch artist for French designer Jean Louis. He worked with Louis on the design for Marilyn Monroe’s iconic “nude” dress, which she wore singing “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy in 1962. (Mackie would late design “nude” gowns for Mitzi Gaynor and Cher - among others).

Mackie left Chouinard without graduating when he was offered a job costume sketching at Paramount Studios. There he worked with famed costume designer Edith Head and he became an assistant to costume designer Ray Aghayan. They would become lifelong romantic partners. Together they would win an Emmy Award for the TV movie “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (1966). (Aghayan died from natural causes in 2011.)

In 1967, Mackie was asked to design costumes for actress Mitzi Gaynor’s show in Las Vegas. This led to his work on her 8 TV specials - winning Emmys twice for his designs.

His work on Mitzi’s Vegas show led to Bob being hired by Carol Burnett for her variety show in 1967. His comic genius helped her to define and enhance her characters - never more so than her iconic Scarlett curtain dress. Over 11 seasons and 269 episodes, Mackie designed 16,000 costumes for Carol, her costars, guests, and backup dancers.

How could Mackie top that? Designing for Cher, of course. He worked on her TV show with Sonny, her solo show, numerous stage shows, and Academy Award appearances.

His work with Cher led to Mackie designing for British icon Elton John’s, including designs for his sequence studded Dodgers uniform and his infamous Donald Duck outfit.

In his career, Mackie has been nominated for 3 Oscars, nominated for 32 Emmys (winning 9 times); and winning a Tony for Broadway musical The Cher Show.

Bob Mackie’s son Robin died in 1993 due to an AIDS-related disease (from intravenous drug use). At the time, Bob and his former wife did not know Robin was a father himself. Years later, Bob’s granddaughter reached out to him. Eventually, Bob and his former wife Lulu developed strong bonds with their new extended family.

Bob Mackie’s designs, costumes, and gowns have been worn by a long line of glamorous stars including: Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Raquel Welch, Diahann Carroll, Ann-Margret, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Goldie Hawn, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Madonna, Pink, Miley Cyrus, and Zendaya.

“Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion”, a documentary about Mackie was released in 2025. It meanders and is poorly edited. It’s is a huge disappointment. Mackie deserves better.

[laurenillustrated]

Cutesy Costumes! 🦇🍁

Here are all of my vintage inspired costume designs for the spooky autumn season!

Prints available on my inprnt!

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet TV series costumes (1950)

[chocohybrid]

Furiosa character references, posted by Jenny Beavan, Costume Designer (More on her page)

Part 1 // Part 2

[paintweaver-art]

✧ MIDNIGHT ✧

An OC of mine! You might see more of her in the future. Finally started working on her project. 🤍

[fashioninpaper]

Costume designs by Edith Head

[bastart13]

I'll probably end up doing 4 more of these over the weekend

Prompts: Lazy, extravagent, uncaring, generally apathetic and used to having luxury, though he doesn't particularly take care of it

[cliozaur]

1878 costume designs for Les Misérables theatre adaptation, by Jules Marre. I have complaints about Montparnasse. And it seems that the adaptation just ignored the barricades part.

[thefugitivesaint]

''Dennison's Bogie Book'', 1924 Source

[chernobog13]

New costume designs for Robin suggested by readers, as published in The Batman Family #13 (September, 1977).

The design on the lower left is from the late Norm Breyfogle, who would eventually become a long-running artist on the Batman titles for DC Comics. That costume is apparently not his original art, as DC editorial had it redrawn.

Incidentally, the main story in this issue had Robin confessing his love to Batgirl, but she had fallen asleep so she never heard.

[campsis]

Marcel Vertès, Costume Designs (Four Works)

[justasmolweebean]

I've been playing rogue trader..... here's my gal.... she likes pink & red.... her name's Lavinia

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Moonbase Alpha uniforms designed by Rudi Gernreich - Space: 1999 (1975)

[chocohybrid]

Furiosa character references, posted by Jenny Beavan, Costume Designer (More on her page)

Part 1 // Part 2

[the-colourful-witch]

Okay, to add on to my earlier Ask, I really wanna go into why I love your Yule Ball Dress stuff so much.

Luna:

I feel like every single one of you designs for her captured the eccentric and bold, but still soft and kind aspect of her character that she displays. Before I get into this, I wanna reiterate that I adore all the designs and if I prefer one it doesn’t mean I dont like the other, it just means I feel like it suits the girls better. The dresses are all gorgeous.

My least favourite would be number 2. I think that in the 90s, the dress has quite a hippie but still common vibe even if its a little old-fashioned. I feel like it doesn’t stand out as much as the others, but the style is beautiful. The vest is what stands out the most for me. If they weren’t Wizards this dress would make the most sense realistically, but as they are I think she would have more access to crazy, whimsical materials and designs. My favourite thing about this dress is the skirt. It looks exactly like one of those flowers that hang upside down, haha. I forgot to add, the hairpiece really suits Luna in my opinion

In 5th place, I’d put dress number 1. I love the pattern of the dress, but my opinion of this one is about the same as dress number 2. The only this is higher is because I am very very biased when it come to puffed sleeves. I also love the slight colouring and speckled pattern that’s on the sleeves and neck even if its subtle.

For 4th place, I had an extremely hard time deciding. It breaks my heart to put this in 4th place, but I’m putting dress number 5 here. This is my favourite if I was to wear a dress out of all these options. I love the colour, I love the corset, I love the short ruffle sleeves, I love the loopy embroidery, I love the corset, I love the flowers in her hair, I love the boots, I love the necklace and I love the corset. I really love the corset if you couldn’t tell. The shape of the big skirt is really cute. But I think once again she would have a more adventurous pattern. I’m so sad that I am doing this to myself but this would not be what I imagine for Luna. I mean, this girl wore a hat with a Lion and an Eagle in some strange combination but still pulled it off without a care. I love her. Anyway I’m getting off track. I think this is a little simple once again but I still adore the design. I think one day I might get this made professionally if I can ever afford it, would you be alright with that? The boots are really nice too. I personally love this style of fancy dresses with boots so this is number 1 for myself and in general but I dont think this fits Luna the best.

In 3rd place I will put dress number 3. It’s beautiful and I love the kooky Alice in Wonderland Vibe. I think this one really suits her and I like all the sharp edges on the design. I feel like it gives a nice contrast to the rest of the softer, more pastel and more flower colours and designs. But, I agree with you that the pastel ones are my favourite for her. I really adore the jewels and shiny stuff all over the dress. It really drives home the wacky aspect in a way I can’t really explain.

My second favourite is number 6. I feel like the space buns are what makes the outfit something that really screams Luna. The dress and cut is gorgeous and I love the heart shaped neckline, but my favourite part is the print on the dress. The ballerinas are so delicate and elegant, but still uncommon cos back then people usually didn’t get fabrics with patterns of humans. That sounds way creepier than I intended. But it’s really beautiful, and space buns are also one of my own favourite hairstyles, so this is number 2.

My favourite one, is definitely dress number 4. From the elegant up-do with leaves in her hair, to the crystal looking booties, this entire outfit is perfect. The dress is really good. The pattern on the skirt is gorgeous and I think that the zodiac signs were a really good choice for her. I love the green tights because it gives it a more playful vibe as compared to just elegant, and I think that playfulness is really important because she would have been 13 and it’s a part of her character. The see through tulle is really pretty and it makes it looks like it’s very nature like. The bodice is perfect as well because we all know that she would have put real plants on it if she had gone to the ball. It just really suits her and I love the design.

Okay that’s all that I have to say but I wanna reiterate that I really do love all the designs and I’m so happy you out so much effort and thought into each of them. Your really great! I’ll do Ginny and Hermione in a separate ask, but what do you agree/disagree with from what I’ve said?

I read your piece three times and I couldn't agree more! Like, when I draw these design sheets, I'm mostly thinking as I go. I think things like: what are the things she would wear at that age? What would she be interested in? Is she crafty? Or thrifty? Things like that :) I agree with your top 6. I also think the 70s dress isn't the right fit for Luna at the Yule Ball. I do think it's something she'd wear, maybe in a more casual setting, with slightly less saturated colour. I should do a drawing on that... Anyway, your top three! Agreed, 100%. The green plants and zodiac dress is my favourite, too. She could have put that whole outfit together in her spare time after classes. That's the idea I wanted to go with. I am a little biased about the purple dress, I loved making that one. I feel like maybe she would have worn something like that at a Christmas party when she was a little bit older. It's a slightly more sophisticated look. I love that you pick all these things up from my drawings. I just finished my bachelor's in illustration and storytelling and the main thing I always focus on is telling the story I want people to see/hear. There is a story in the dress designs and you've managed to find them. I love that! It's so wonderful. I'm really curious about your thoughts on the other girls I've already done. I'd be happy to hear what you think :) Finally, if you ever find a way to make the pink dress, be my guest! And send me the photos! It would be an honor! And I think I would cry, just a little bit, from happiness.