Bob Mackie To Receive the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award

The legendary costume designer is getting the recognition he deserves.

Cher and Bob Mackie at the 1985 Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fresh off of designing 600 costumes for The Cher Show on Broadway (the feat earning him a Tony Award nomination this year), Bob Mackie is set to receive the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award at the CFDA Awards on June 3rd. The award, given to Narciso Rodriguez last year is long overdue for the designer whose work with some of the most formidable women in the industry includes: Liza Minelli, Carol Channing, Tina Turner, Joan Rivers. His two most famous creative partnerships are with Carol Burnett and Cher respectively.

“No one does stage dressing the way Bob does. No one,” said Tina Turner about Mackie. The designer, a Southern California native got his start working as a fashion illustrator working with the esteemed Jean Louis and Edith Head. Throughout his illustrious career, he has received nine Emmy Award wins and three Academy Awards. Mackie designed for every episode of the Carol Burnett show- the two connected after Burnett saw Mackie’s work he did for Mitzi Gaynor in Las Vegas in 1967.

The work he did and continues to do with Cher continues to be an inspiration and blueprint today. If Google had been established in 1986, his black mohawked, two-piece outfit for Cher would have crashed the server. He and Cher together made the Naked Dress what it is today. His work evokes high fashion, glamour, camp and everything the world needs more of right now.

The CFDA Awards will be June 3 and held at the Brooklyn Museum.