Read On To See How You Can Connect With Bob Mackie COO Marc Schwartz at Licensing Expo
By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
The Queen of Rock’n’Roll Tina Turner passed away in late May, leaving so many of us with fond memories of her unforgettable concerts. For me, it was a night at the legendary Commodore in Vancouver, Canada, where Turner just blew the roof off.
But now, as the world mourns the singer, designer Bob Mackie is also making headlines as the person who helped Turner create her legendary look and style. As chronicled in the recent HBO documentary Tina, Mackie helped create the singer’s design sense, working with her since the Ike and Tina days in the 1970s.
Mackie also designed sultry outfits for Turner’s solo shows after she left Ike Turner in 1978, including the famous ‘flame dress’ that I saw in the 1979 tour, and he even designed the wardrobe for her last tour in 2008.
Turner was hardly alone in that. Virtually everyone in the fashion world knows Bob Mackie as the ‘designer to the stars’; the man whose vivid imagination and timeless design sense resulted in him dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe, to Cher, to Elton John, and even the comedic, over-the-top styles seen in the wacky Carol Burnett Show.
But what struck me was that in recent years I’ve seen young celebrities dressing in Bob Mackie designs as well, particularly mega-pop stars like Dua Lipa and Pink, or the ultimate fashion influencer Kim Kardashian, who controversially wore the famed Marilyn Monroe dress to the Met Gala. The, dress which Mackie sketched out while he was working with the famous designer Jean Louis, received some damage as Kardashian is a larger size than Monroe.
Similarly, Miley Cyrus made headlines and front pages around the world as she appeared in a stunning Bob Mackie dress for her 2023 New Year’s Eve concert.
Having recently read the book The Art of Bob Mackie, I wanted to know why Mackie’s designs are so timeless, and why his popularity is growing with young, fashion-conscious fans who spend more time on TokTok than watching movies.
The company’s COO Marc Schwartz, who has spent many years with the designer, says one of Bob’s secrets is that he’s an artist who also thinks deeply about the person he’s designing for.
“Bob’s designs made the stars feel confident,’ Schwartz explained. “She knows she looks appropriate for the event or performance, and Bob also has this special gift for fit and the use of color and detail.”
Mackie himself says he always tries to do something new and modern, but at the same time, he strives to bring classic design into everything he does so that the dress or accessory retains a sense of timelessness.
“I think fashion is that we go two steps forward and go 15 back each time, because you always have to look back and see what’s being done,” Mackie said.
That attitude, says Schwartz, has helped Bob Mackie Design Group remain successful throughout the decades, and certainly it doesn’t hurt when major celebrities from today insist on wearing Bob Mackie designs.
“When the younger stars wear a Bob design, it just confirms his talent for making her feel extra special,” Schwartz says.
It also doesn’t hurt the company’s bottom line. High-profile stars have always turned the spotlight on Bob Mackie, and these days that spotlight is beginning to shine from the newest stars in the firmament—namely, social media stars on Instagram and particularly TikTok.
Schwartz says that when the company saw fashion influencers on TikTok talking about Bob Mackie designs, they realized that engaging with social media stars was just as important today as was working with rock and film stars in the 1970s and 1980s.
As a result, Schwartz revealed Bob Mackie is now working with a social media agency. “We’ve partnered with Perpetua, which is an ecommerce advertising software agency that assists with pairing influencers of all sizes with Amazon brands,” Schwartz explained. “Both the brand and the influencer get to choose who they partner with, which ensures genuine endorsements and relationships.”
The partnership has accelerated Bob Mackie’s reach on social media, but most importantly, it’s renewing interest in the artist’s work among a young demographic.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth in brand recognition, particularly in that younger audience.” Schwartz confirms. “And what has been really gratifying is that this audience has an appreciation for Bob’s talent and history, and they’re excited by our products on Amazon that are more accessible to them.”
That focus on Amazon is another major change Bob Mackie has made, as shopping habits have shifted heavily toward online purchasing. For many years Mackie worked with fashion retailers and particularly with the cable shopping channel QVC. That relationship allowed the design house some very direct connections with consumers, but as viewing habits changed and more people cut their cable to go online, Bob Mackie knew the company needed to move to where the consumers were.
The answer for them was Amazon.
“We worked with QVC for over 25 years and were able to speak to the customer directly,” Schwartz explains. “However, now we have the same ability with our Amazon business, which is the next chapter in our DTC (Direct to Consumer) strategy. We are focusing on fashion and home furnishings accessories now but will add apparel in the future.”
Schwartz and Mackie also have some tips for other fashion houses that want to make the shift over to the online shopping world of Amazon.
One of them is to work with a licensing agency that focuses on retail, and particularly has expertise in working with Amazon as a channel for both retail and marketing.
The other is to focus first on building the brand on Amazon primarily with accessories, which typically don’t require you to carry an inventory of different sizes. For that reason, fashion accessories are both easier and less expensive to deal with from a logistics point of view.
“Our move into fashion and home accessories started many years ago, but for Amazon and our other digital channels, accessories make more sense from a shipping and returns standpoint,” Schwartz explains. “Broad apparel sizing adds to the complexity of digital selling, but we are working on it. Bob’s incredible artwork lends itself to both fashion and home accessories, so fortunately, it was a natural transition for us.
“Focusing more heavily on fashion and home accessories also opens us up to many new digital channels of distribution,” Schwartz adds. “Since they are much easier to ship, there are no size and fit issues, thereby less returns. We are also able to offer more SKUs with accessories versus apparel offerings. It’s just more manageable for digital commerce.”
For that reason, Bob Mackie’s focus at the upcoming Licensing Expo and beyond is to find strong partners to work with particularly in the areas of fashion and home accessories, but also in unexpected areas, such as toys or metaverse projects.
“We are basically looking for interesting strategic partners, without limiting too much what that means,” said Schwartz. “It could be a strong manufacturer, retailer, or even another brand that we can create a co-branded collaboration with. These have been very successful for us over the years, with Barbie, Gucci, Wheel of Fortune, and so on.”
For example, one of Bob Mackie’s long-time licensing deals is to design spectacular outfits for Mattel’s Barbie, with the designer’s collectors edition products selling out at some eye-watering price points.
“We are extremely proud of our many multiyear partnerships, that continue to this day,” Schwartz says. “The Barbie-Mackie partnership celebrates 33 years this year, and our luggage partnership is now 20 years old. Many others are over 10 years old.”
In that sense, Schwartz says the attitude of the partners is the most important thing he looks for.
“We look for strength in their respective industry, however, we also look for creative leadership and general enthusiasm for the new partnership,” he says. “Without enthusiasm, I find it won’t work well. So, we always look for potential long-term partners, because we feel we are very good partners and we look for equal quality companies to work with.”
This year in particular, Mackie has his wandering eye looking north, as the company is contemplating a major return to the market in Canada.
“In the past we have had very strong relationships in the Canadian fashion scene,” Schwartz says. “Our original fragrance partner was based in Canada and our classic fragrance has sold throughout Canada for over 30 years. Bob has made hundreds of personal appearances over the years, and we love the Canadian customers. We have also sold home furnishings on The Shopping Channel, which is their premier television shopping network.
“So, as a company, we feel this strong affinity for the country and for the people who work in its fashion industry, and frankly, that’s why we want to work more in Canada. We like to think we’re good people, and our main thing is, we want to work with other good people!”
Schwartz says Bob Mackie is not getting a booth this year, as he and the team want to spend their time stalking the floor for potential partners.
To make an appointment with Bob Mackie for a licensing discussion, interested parties can either use the Licensing Expo matchmaking service, or contact Marc Schwartz by email, at marc.bmdg@gmail.com
You can also learn more about Bob Mackie Design Group at www.bobmackie.com.
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