Cher at 80: Her rule-breaking fashion moments
“How do I look?” asks Cher as the vampish single mother Rachel Flax in seminal 1990 film Mermaids.
“Like a woman about to go forth and sin,” replies her bookish, devout daughter, played by a young Winona Ryder. “Oh good, exactly the look I was hoping for,” she quips, with a bouffant teased to the gods and a confection of black lace on her svelte frame.
Winona Ryder, Cher and Christina Ricci in a publicity shot for Mermaids, 1990 - Getty
In a sense, it’s been Cher’s modus operandi throughout her career; to scandalise, shock and thoroughly entertain through her relishing of fashion. As she turns 80 on Wednesday, she pleasingly shows no signs of taking her high-heeled foot off the gas in terms of how she dresses; earlier this month at the Met Gala she donned a leather and lace gown by Burberry, a nod to her earlier penchant for naked dressing.
Cher wears a leather and lace gown by Burberry at the 2026 Met Gala - Jamie McCarthy/Getty
The evolution from Sonny and Cher’s hippy flares and floppy blouses to becoming a high-voltage byword for “vamp” was fuelled in no small part by Bob Mackie, the designer who as a young man (under costume designer Jean Louis) got his break creating the dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing a breathless Happy Birthday to JFK, and went on to create some of Cher’s most iconic (a word overused, but entirely apt in this case) looks.
“She had been doing movies where she played this gorgeously fabulous woman, and she wanted to actually honour her heritage and nod to her Native American history, so the first time we worked together it was for that,” Mackie tells The Telegraph from his LA home. “She has always loved to dress up. When she began I thought of her as this rock ’n’ roll girl, a little goth-looking, but together we evolved her look. She really loved fashion and exploring different looks. And when you have someone who looks as phenomenal as she does and enjoys dressing up, you can really just go for it.”
Bob Mackie on his first impressions of Cher: ‘I thought of her as this rock ’n’ roll girl, a little goth-looking’ (the pair pictured at the Met Gala, 1985) - Ron Galella Collection via Getty
The eras of Cher have been myriad and wide-ranging – her reinvention and knack for survival have made her a loved figure in the fashion world and the gay community. As she herself puts it: “All of us invent ourselves. Some of us just have more imagination than others.”
Beginnings in Vogue
Born Cheryl Sarkisian, with Cherokee ancestry on her mother’s side, it was the late editrix Diana Vreeland who first spotted her fashion potential as a young singer in the 1960s. The then-Vogue editor proclaimed “my dear, you have a pointed head. You are beautiful. Why aren’t you a model?” She promptly commissioned Richard Avedon to shoot a 14-page editorial with her new discovery, in the summer of 1966.
As a husband-and-wife double act, Cher and Sonny’s outfits were typically coordinated for performances throughout the late 1960s. Saturated colour schemes, clashing print patchworks and fur gilets were just some of the staples in their joint approach to hippy style.
Cher and Sonny’s quintessential Sixties look: saturated colour schemes, clashing print patchworks and fur gilets - Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
The naked glamour era
After the looks straight from the free-love days of Woodstock came Mackie’s injection of pure glamour and theatricality. As she began her solo career, and during the filming of the 1970s Cher show, Cher would change into shimmering outfit after shimmering outfit, from catsuits to gowns to barely there ensembles. She also raised eyebrows at a formative Met Gala, run by Diana Vreeland before it became a celebrity jamboree, in a “naked dress” – a sensational beaded and feather gown that was sheer in certain places, again by consummate showman Mackie.
A naked-dressing pioneer: Cher, with Mackie, at the 1974 Met Gala - Ron Galella Collection via Getty
“People would tune into the show just to see what Cher would wear that week,” says Mackie, now 87. “Girls wanted to have long black hair like her. You have to think about who they are and what the audience expects; this diva that you want to emulate.”
She presented an award at the Oscars in 1986 wearing an ensemble resplendent with a feathered headdress, then returned in 1988 to win her own for Moonstruck and wore just as many spangles. In 1989, a sheer catsuit made with two “seatbelts” and worn in the video for If I Could Turn Back Time was so controversial that MTV banned the video from playing before 9pm.
The Nineties vamp years
The 1990s for Cher started with Mermaids and ended with a pop career reboot thanks to her anthem Believe, which became one of the best-selling singles of all time. She began to embrace more heavy-duty leathers and nods to goth style, as well as turn-of-the-millennium metallics.
The singer attended the Met Gala in 1997 wearing a Versace leather dress with a blue crucifix, and the next year once again called upon Mackie to create a riff on an Edwardian gown with ivory beaded layers and capelet. At the Oscars in 1998, she showed once again that the “naked dress” was a timeless look in a cobweb-style Mackie dress and coordinating jewelled mesh hat.
For the 1997 Met Gala, Cher wore a Versace leather dress with a blue crucifix design - Ron Galella Collection via Getty
“I would do exactly what I wanted to, no matter what,” Cher later told The Hollywood Reporter of this era of red-carpet dressing. “I mean, I thought we were in show business. People can say I dressed like a fool, I don’t have good taste. It’s not about good or bad clothes; it’s about freedom.”
Rule-defying at 80
Cher shows not a hint of scaling back her high-impact aesthetic, and rightly so. In 2024, she took to the stage at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in a relatively modest black bodice and cargo trousers, and last year, at 78, she donned a black sheer, beaded catsuit and leather jacket for Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, in honour of her If I Could Turn Back Time costume.
At the 2024 Victoria’s Secret show; wearing a black bodice and cargo trousers - Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
For SNL in 2025, Cher wore a black sheer, beaded catsuit and leather jacket in honour of her costume for If I Could Turn Back Time - Virginia Sherwood/Peacock via Getty
She returned to the Met Gala earlier this month, too, wearing a black leather corset top and lace bodysuit by Burberry, with patent stomping boots. If this is how Cher will approach fashion as an octogenarian, Mackie is all for it.
“She said to me: ‘I don’t want to dress like a housewife,’” says Mackie. “And she never did.”
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