How to Dress Like a Serious Actress - Cher, Bob Mackie & The 1986 Oscars
‘She was pissed off’ - that’s what sparked Cher’s now iconic look at the 1986 Oscars. I’m sure you’ve seen it before; a black beaded diamond top with a matching low-rise skirt, finished with a two-foot feathered headdress (and one blue contact lens, which is cool). And there’s a designer that helped create this moment, Bob Mackie.
Cher and Bob Mackie met in 1967 on the set of The Carol Burnett Show. Cher and Sonny were guest stars and Mackie was the show’s costume designer. Cher was only 19 at the time. In 1971, Mackie designed her outfits for the The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, creating the now lifelong friendship that still exists today, with Mackie designing many of Cher’s tour looks, red carpet appearances and TV appearances even to this day. The reason why Mackie and Cher worked so well is their complimentary approach to fashion. Mackie’s designs were daring, and Cher was fearless when it came to her own style. Mackie was inspired by showgirl aesthetics, using feathers, sequins, beading and fringe to add intricacy and visual interest.
An honourable mention for the relationship between Mackie and Cher is the 1974 Met Gala. Now, you’ve got to understand that back in the day, the Met Gala wasn’t the crazily fashionable event it is today. It was far more modest and ‘casual’ than it is now. Imagine the reaction in 1974, when Cher walked along the carpet, Mackie in hand, in a sheer nude gown adorned with beading and feathers. The fabric used for this gown was at the time (called souffle) was outlawed in the US due to its high flammability. The trend of ‘naked dressing’ is so common on the red carpet these days, but Cher was the first (of course).
A year later, Richard Avedon photographed Cher in the same gown for the cover of TIME Magazine. Newsstands removed the magazine due to backlash, it was simply too risqué for the time.
“The place went crazy. I’ve never seen so many photographers just come out of the shadows at the Met and take her picture. And of course she was in every newspaper the next day, and they’ve been printing it in the last 50 years, over and over again.”
But anyways, back to the Oscars look.
Cher was snubbed out of an Oscar nomination for her role in the 1985 film Mask. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Maskfollowed the life of Rocky Dennis, a boy suffering from facial deformities (craniodiaphyseal dysplasia) and his mother Florence, played by Cher.
Mask was widely loved by both critics and audiences, with Cher winning the Best Actress Award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival a Best Actress nomination at the Golden Globes. However, for the Oscars, nothing. No nomination, nothing. Cher was snubbed. So, Cher enlisted Mackie to create a look for her appearance in front of the Academy.
Cher said “I had the idea mostly because the Academy didn’t really like me. They hated the way I dressed and had young boyfriends, so they thought I wasn’t serious.” And this is where her look comes in - it was a ‘fuck you’ to the Oscars. Cher wanted an Oscar for her work but didn’t want to compromise herself in order to get one. She was seen as an over-the-top pop star, not a serious actress, but Cher wanted to show that she could be both. As Cher presented an award during the event, she said “As you can see, I did receive my academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress.”
Cher was in every newspaper the next day, and many Worst Dressed at the Oscars lists for years to come. It became known as the ‘Oscar revenge dress’.
Two years later in 1988, Cher won Best Actress for the film Moonstruck, a romantic comedy directed by Norman Jewison. And this was a big feat as Cher was against major competition. Meryl Streep in Ironweed, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. But Cher took home the award with a romantic comedy, a genre that’s notoriously hard to win major awards. But the question wasn’t ‘would Cher win?’, it was ‘what is Cher going to wear?’. It was another Bob Mackie creation, a sheer gown with strategic beading and fringe and matching stole. The Associated Press called it ‘far from modest’, but Cher sent the message she needed to.
The appeal of Mackie’s work in this scenario is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously while still retaining its beauty. It pushes the boundaries while still earning respect due to its impeccable construction and glamour.
“Of course it’s not fashion - it’s about getting attention and having a good time.”