TV, stage, music, and motion picture superstar Cher sat down with Vogue magazine to ruminate over a good number of the iconic outfits she wore, starting with her kooky look as a pop singer in the sixties paired with husband Sonny Bono.
It may be the outrageously gorgeous outfits designed by Bob Mackie in the 1970s that Cher is best known for, at least in terms of television.
“Bob Mackie designed that,” Cher says about this design. “This was gold. I'm holding onto something. Oh, I remember! It was kind of like a dolman sleeve... It was a jacket, but it was kind of dolman sleeve. And it was Bob, obviously, and this was a photo shoot for the TV show.”
“I was the first woman [to show a belly button on TV],” Cher remarks. “When you're married, you can get away with stuff and also everyone thought that it was ‘I Dream of Jeannie.’ And I don't think the censors were digging that deep. So yeah, it was me. It reminds me of how fabulous my hip bones were.”
“Okay, this dress. This dress was the cover of Time magazine, and it was also what I wore to the first Met Ball. And there I am at the Met Ball with me, Bob Mackie, and my best friend Paulette. This guy came up to me. I don't know if he was a photographer. I don't remember what he was, and he said, ‘How do you feel being naked?’ And I said, ‘I feel just fine.’ If you look at it, it looks like it's stuck to me and that's because it is. I think it was shocking for a lot of people because it was souffle.
“The dress was made out of souffle, which was a material that was outlawed in America. You can only get it in France, and Marlena Dietrich had her beaded dresses made on it. And so when you put it on, Bob sprayed it with a little hand sprayer and it just sticks to your skin. So it looks like you just... Your skin's beaded. So, I think people were a little taken back.”
“This is a picture with Diane and Elton. I was still with Sonny when I had it, so it must've been in the early '70s and I'm in the same outfit.
"And Diana, this big thing is yellow. Lots of yellow ostrich feathers.
"And Elton is just Elton. Diana was pregnant. And I was in that same outfit only without anything. I don't know where we were, but we used to hang out a lot. Diane was so beautiful.”
“This one, this flame dress was one of many. This was the beginning, this one, with all these pieces, these little dangly pieces. It was for something on the show, on the ‘Cher’ show, and whatever it was all about, flames and sex.”
“So this is my skunk hairdo. And it was the one time that I didn't wear a wig, and I love these earrings. I don't remember where I got them, but I loved them. And I had that T-shirt studded.”
“This is one of my favorite, favorite outfits. I came to Bob with an idea and I said, "I want to have a Mohawk. And I want to do something that's not actually Indian, but I want it to be so over the top, that it's next week." He came back with this. And the beautiful shawl was the most fabulous cashmere. And I loved that! I love the whole thing.
“And my boyfriend, God bless him, Joshua Don, and Joshua was so nervous because I kept saying "Joshy, do you care what I'm wearing? Can anything be too much?" He was like, "No, I'm fine with it." And I walked out of my bedroom, he almost pressed out. I had the idea mostly because the Academy didn't really like me. I thought they hated the way I dressed. And I had young boyfriends, and they just thought I wasn't serious. So I came out and said, as you can see, I got my handbook on how to dress like a serious actress.”
Watch the whole thing, it’s full of very revealing (like some of Cher’s outfits!) inside stories behind memorable images that any true fan of the superstar will recognize.
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“Okay, this dress. This dress was the cover of Time magazine, and it was also what I wore to the first Met Ball. And there I am at the Met Ball with me, Bob Mackie, and my best friend Paulette. This guy came up to me. I don't know if he was a photographer. I don't remember what he was, and he said, ‘How do you feel being naked?’ And I said, ‘I feel just fine.’ If you look at it, it looks like it's stuck to me and that's because it is. I think it was shocking for a lot of people because it was souffle. 
“This is a picture with Diane and Elton. I was still with 
“This one, this flame dress was one of many. This was the beginning, this one, with all these pieces, these little dangly pieces. It was for something on the show, on the ‘Cher’ show, and whatever it was all about, flames and sex.”
“So this is my skunk hairdo. And it was the one time that I didn't wear a wig, and I love these earrings. I don't remember where I got them, but I loved them. And I had that T-shirt studded.”
“This is one of my favorite, favorite outfits. I came to Bob with an idea and I said, "I want to have a Mohawk. And I want to do something that's not actually Indian, but I want it to be so over the top, that it's next week." He came back with this. And the beautiful shawl was the most fabulous cashmere. And I loved that! I love the whole thing.
