Great Barrington — As part of the Berkshire International Film Festival (see separate story here), fashion designer and costumier Bob Mackie will be attending a showing of the documentary about his life “Naked Illusion” on Friday, May 30, at 4:30 p.m., at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.
Mackie has had an over-six-decade-long career creating clothes and costumes for the likes of Cher, Carol Burnett, RuPaul Charles, Miley Cyrus, Mitzi Gaynor, Bernadette Peters, and many others for television, film, concert, and Broadway productions.
In an interview with The Berkshire Edge, Mackie said that the May 30 event will be his first time in the Berkshires. “I’m quite excited because I have always heard it’s beautiful there,” Mackie said. “I’m very excited that the documentary will be shown at BIFF.”
While expressed loving the documentary, he said it did leave a few parts of his multi-decade career out. “Anytime somebody else directs something about you, they’re going to leave a few things out,” Mackie said. “I’ve done a lot of fashion shows with different audiences, and the documentary did not cover that area at all. But it did cover a lot of the performing arts things in the stadiums and on television. We also have an amazing group of guest stars that are in the documentary with us, so that part is fun. But we couldn’t possibly have gotten my whole career within 90 minutes.”
“One of the documentary’s producers came up with [the title ‘Naked Illusion’] because I have created some dresses that are a bit ‘see through,’ and while you think you can see through everything, you can’t,” Mackie explained of the documentary’s title.
“I never think of what I do as ‘fashion,’” said Mackie. “Costume design, to me, is being in show business. I did quit at one point, but then I went back to it because my heart really is in theater, television, and films. All of those things are really fun to do.”
Mackie said that one of the people he most enjoyed working with was Burnett, having served as the costume designer for “The Carol Burnett Show” for its entire run from 1967 to 1978.
“It was so much fun to work with her,” Mackie recollected. “When you read a script from the show you think, ‘Well, where does this character come from? What does she look like? What does she dress like?’ Those things are always important. You are helping the author [of the script] because, very often, you don’t know where the character is coming from. You have to sort of figure it out by the dialog. Sometimes you see a piece of film from 30 to 40 years ago and it seems bad. But then you start liking what you have done in the past. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad sign.”
As for what he feels are the important elements of costume design, Mackie said it all depends on the script of the project he is working on. “If it’s a musical, or if it’s a period play, you have to do your research to try to make that character interesting to the audience,” Mackie explained. “If I had to design for a ‘glamor girl,’ the audience would want to be knocked out when she comes out to the stage. The audience should kind of take a deep breath and go, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be good because of the way she looks.’ The audience should sit up straight and take a deep breath when they see her, just like when they see Cher in Vegas and she is already glamorous to start out with. Nobody wants to go and see a big-time ‘glamor girl’ walking out in a T-shirt and some jeans. That’s not so great, and that doesn’t mean much.”
When asked how he wants his legacy to be remembered, Mackie said, “Oh, I don’t know. I’m just happy if anyone can remember my name at this point.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time during my career getting, making, and having laughs,” Mackie said. “When you work on shows with certain performers, if they don’t get laughs, you might as well be out of a job the next day. And I’ve always gotten my laughs.”
Click here for more information and tickets for the screening of “Naked Illusion.”
