Bob Mackie’s longtime publicist Jenelle Hamilton and design director Joe McFate reflect on their time working with the icon following his recent passing.
Bob Mackie, legendary designer for Cher and Dolly Parton, dead at 87
Bob Mackie, the legendary Emmy- and Tony-winning fashion and costume designer, has died at 87. Mackie was known for embellished and beaded designs.
Imagine Bob Mackie designing your wedding dress or being the person he calls to accompany him to the first night of his Broadway show.
Such was the experience of two inner-circle colleagues of the legendary costume and fashion designer, who died on Monday, Sept. 14 at 87. Mackie was the visionary behind some of the most iconic fashions for stars like Cher, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Carol Burnett, Elton John and more. But behind every talent is a talented team.
For Mackie, Jenelle Hamilton, 46, and Joe McFate, 64, were that team. Hamilton, his loyal publicist, and McFate, his longtime design director, built careers with him, which morphed into lasting friendships. Now, in the days following his passing, Mackie’s dynamic duo are reflecting on their time with the designer and how they want to see his legacy honored.
Both Hamilton and McFate landed opportunities with Mackie in chance meetings, sealing their fashionable fates.
“We were meant to meet and I was meant to work with him,” Hamilton tells USA TODAY, explaining that a 2012 New York Times op-ed arguing that PR “wasn’t worth it” was responsible for leading her to her dream job with Mackie. After commenting on the article in defense of PR, she received an email from a Bob Mackie team member saying that they were intrigued by her comments and asking if she would be interested in an upcoming PR opportunity. She immediately said yes and went into the office for an interview. And the rest, as they say, was history.
“And then they were like, ‘Okay, you got the job,'” Hamilton recalls. She was hired for one project, but it wasn’t long before it turned into a full-time gig. “I never met him initially because I was in the New York office, so I would talk to him on email and stuff.”
Nearly six months into the job, it finally came time for Hamilton to meet Mackie in person. And what does one wear to meet Bob Mackie for the first time?
“I went with a red lace dress and high heels because he always loved women in heels. … And I’ve just been with him ever since,” she says. The publicist eventually moved to Los Angeles “to be closer” to Mackie and McFate, and that’s where she resides today.
McFate, a producer of the 2024 “Bob Mackie, Naked Illusion” documentary, was also based in New York when he first met Mackie. He was working on the Off-Broadway show “Pete’n’ Keely” in the fall of 2000 when his name made its way to Mackie, who was interested in McFate for an opportunity to help Mackie on an upcoming show. During their meeting, Mackie walked him through a rack of pinned clothes in need of alterations and said to take them to a costume shop across town. McFate panicked.
“I was thinking, ‘I will never get all those clothes across town by myself. There were like 24 looks. I couldn’t get them in one taxi cab,” he recalls. But wanting to impress Mackie, he made it work.
The next day, when Mackie asked if he had taken the garments to the costume shop for alterations, McFate proudly told the designer that he did them himself.
“It was the ballsiest thing I ever did in my life. I stayed up half the night. I did those alterations because … I wanted to show him that I knew how to make clothes,” McFate explains.
A few weeks later, McFate got a call from Mackie’s camp asking what it would take for him to move to Los Angeles. An eager McFate replied, “Anything.”
Since the news of Mackie’s passing, he’s been remembered by famous clients, friends and fans all over the world — prompting a revisiting of his vast archive of legendary costumes and fashion. And with the recent fallout from the canceled John Galliano 2027 Met Gala and exhibition, fans across the internet have been championing Mackie’s legacy as the new theme. Stylist and image architect Law Roach even cosigned the idea in a recent pre-Emmys interview.
If the chatter came to fruition, it wouldn’t be the first time Mackie was involved in the Met Gala. In 2019, the designer contributed to the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition, dressing Cher for her performance at the annual gala. Though it became a memorable part of the evening, Mackie’s involvement wasn’t always part of the plan.
“Mr. Mackie was asked to join [the Camp Met Gala] very late,” McFate says, so they had little time to prepare. Both Hamilton and McFate agree that Mackie would be flattered to be honored with his own 2027 Met theme, but admit that it would be hard to create a worthy retrospective in less than the usual 9-to-10 month timeline.
“Bob would be so touched and it would be a fitting — it’s what he deserves. But it would be hard at this point. I mean, it would be difficult to follow what’s happened. And again, we would be forced to rush things,” McFate explains.
Regardless, Hamilton and McFate are both willing to help bring the right Mackie exhibition to life. “We’d be open to doing it with the right person,” Hamilton says. “He would love to have his work on display … We know that that’s what Bob would have wanted.”
Having worked for Mackie for 26 years, McFate has endless memories of his time with the icon. But in recent years, the design director said he especially cherished working with Mackie on the 2018 Broadway production of “The Cher Show,” helping to create the award-winning wardrobe inspired by the singer’s decades-long partnership with the designer. Recalling the show’s first-ever performance during a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago, McFate said one of the best moments was witnessing a part of the show when a parade of Cher’s iconic fashions came to life.
“He got a standing ovation in the middle of the show,” he reflects. “That standing ovation changed the course of that show. And then they began to know and trust that what [Mackie] was doing was the right thing. I mean, to do a show about Cher without him?”
“And he comes out at the end with the three different Chers,” McFate adds. “And of course we had a lovely cast and it was more than a pleasure. It was a great moment.” Mackie won a Tony Award for his work on the Broadway show.
For Hamilton, one of her fondest memories of Mackie was more personal. When planning her 2025 wedding, the publicist tells USA TODAY that she couldn’t have imagined wearing anyone but Mackie down the aisle. She pitched the legendary designer the idea, and though he was retired, he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to design his close friend’s wedding dress.
“It’s going to make me cry, but literally I know that Bob and Joe made that dress from their heart. It wasn’t just a dress. It was like he put everything into that. It was made with so much love. So that’s why I cried when I first saw the sketch,” Hamilton reflects through tears. The PR executive went on to explain that Mackie nailed his vision for the gown within the first sketch, taking inspiration from Cher’s 1975 wedding dress that she wore to marry Gregg Allman.
“It was the most beautiful gift. And knowing that that was literally the last thing he ever designed is such an honor. I think I’m still pinching myself,” she says. “And just to see how happy it made him … to see him work and his mind, I mean, he was a genius. He literally is a genius. It’s just incredible how he knows how to make you come alive.”