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Cher and Bob Mackie were so sartorially intertwined, it’s hard to see where one ended and the other began.
And after Mackie’s death in September, the “Believe” singer lost not only a career-long collaborator, but also a close friend.
The singer spoke with Vogue about the iconic designer’s influence on her style, saying, “I remember every moment.”
“With Bob’s clothes, you could wear them inside out: They were so beautifully made. Other people might have copied his dresses, but they didn’t create them as he did,” Cher said.
One of Cher’s most well-known Mackie looks was the naked dress she wore to the 1974 Met Gala.
Attending on Mackie’s arm, Cher wore a gown (dubbed “The Dress”) that was crafted of a completely sheer mesh with all-over embroidery. The hem and sleeves were sewn with feathers that moved with the wind as she walked.
It was, as it turns out, Cher’s personal favorite Mackie moment.
“Bob, Vogue, and I were doing a decades [photo shoot] of dresses from the 1920s to 1970s,” she recalled. “When we were going to the Met, I had no idea what to wear, and we were like, ‘Bob, what about this dress [from the shoot]?’”
In a shocking share, the singer revealed that the material used for said dress, called soufflé, was actually “illegal in America.”
What’s more, it was Marlene Dietrich who smuggled the fabric over to the States on Mackie’s behalf.
“I remember coming in for a fitting, and I could see this little kitchen. This woman was taking things out of the refrigerator and putting them into the trash can. I had no idea what she was doing,” Cher told Vogue.
“So I was like, ‘Bob, who is that?’ And he was like, ‘That’s Marlene Dietrich!’ She brought the material that we were making the dress out of.”
The 80-year-old certainly has a signature style, but she credits Mackie with shaping her look.
“Without Bob, I would certainly not be a fashion icon, because Bob really was so important in making me have my own look. I did other things on my own, but Bob was really the person that pushed me into those real glamour moments,” Cher said.