MACKIE! Coveting, Collecting, Buying, Selling: My 50-year history with vintage Bob Mackie gowns.
- C.T.Madrigal (amazon.com/author/ctmadrigal)
- Jan 17
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
TheFROCK.com has bought and sold hundreds of original vintage Bob Mackie dresses, gowns, and stage costumes since going online in 2001; this archive represents a small selection of our favorites. To shop our current selection of vintage Mackies, see the "Late Vintage" section in the site Menu.
BOB MACKIE WAS THE FIRST designer I knew by name. If you’ve read my memoirs then you know I was a teenage drag queen, a runaway who couldn’t afford name-brand cereal, much less designer dresses. Still, there was one dress label I was hellbent on having, my drag sisters too, we all wanted a bugle beaded Bob Mackie.
When someone wore a glittering gown to the club, a dazzling dress we hadn’t seen before, we all asked, “Is it? Is it a Mackie?” The answer was usually 'nerp', but some nights some gurl with a DL sugardaddy opened a garment bag in the club's backroom, flashing a frock that blew our minds.
And if you think gay boys were alone in this, then let me introduce you to my mother. Mom was a biker and a bit of a boozer who knew nothing of fashion, she had little need for any clothing that wasn’t bellbottom corduroy pants or a big breasted halter top. I doubt she could tell you who Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent were, but she knew Bob Mackie’s name as well as she knew mine.
I'm sure Cher played a role in that, Mom loved her some "Dark Lady". On Sunday nights she'd drink Bloody Mary's and sing along with the television set during the Sonny and Cher variety hour. Me, I drank Hi-C while sitting dumbstruck, watching the gypsy halfbreed from my beanbag chair, paralyzed by her perfection.
Carol Burnett too, Mom loved the comedy show, we all did. I remember the show’s intros most, when Carol answered audience questions while wearing some fabulous frock, always a less costumey Bob Mackie design that seemed to be pulled from Carol's own private wardrobe. And when Carol had a guest star on and the two sang together (dueling divas in magnificent Mackies), I died. Seriously, I did a seven-year-old's deathdrop into a sticky vinyl beanbag, and I died!
After I started TheFROCK.com in 2001, Broadway legend Carol Channing sold me a dozen of her fabled frocks, including the yellow one in the photo from the Carol Burnett show; I nearly did another deathdrop that day, the kind that needs defibrillators. I’ve sold most of them, but I did keep a few, including a big white Bob Mackie high-style terrycloth robe that she often wore after performances. I always thought I'd wear the robe when getting into drag, but it turns out I don't do drag much anymore (it's hard to sport a feathered caftan when cleaning a rain gutter), and I wouldn't want to get makeup on it anyway.
Carol's costumes are but a handful of the hundreds of Mackies we've sold over the past 25 years. Honestly, I miss them all. So, I am resurrecting some of them here. Below, you'll find photos of a few of the sequined, beaded, bejeweled and bedazzled Mackie dresses and gowns we've handled. I'll probably add more later. For those that are available for purchase (at the time of this post), you'll find a link to its product page in the photo caption, in case you’d like to have a magnificent Mackie of your own.
If you're looking to buy a vintage Mackie (something to deathdrop you into a beanbag chair), just type MACKIE into our site's search bar. You'll find an ever-evolving array of available original Bob Mackie dresses and gowns that weren't shown here.
TheFROCK.com has specialized in vetted and valuable vintage frocks since 2001. To see our now-vintage (2005) interview with VOGUE magazine, click here.
C.T.Madrigal for TheFROCK.com
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