A golden trophy is the best keepsake a musician can take home from the annual Grammys. Months after clinching her first-ever statues for best pop solo performance and record of the year at last February's 2024 Grammys, Miley Cyrus has finally brought home the next best souvenir: the vintage Bob Mackie dress she wore to perform her megahit "Flowers" on the awards show stage.
Contrary to popular belief, celebrities don't typically own the rare vintage they wear on the red carpet. Instead, those archival flexes, like the cutout, silver-sequined dress Cyrus wore onstage as one of five Grammys outfit changes, are usually loans. But a special auction hosted by Turner Classic Movies and Julien’s Auctions allowed Cyrus to bid for—and buy!—her piece of performance history.
Hailing from the designer's Fall 2002 collection, Cyrus's Bob Mackie performance dress features hundreds of dazzling sequins and an ab-baring cut-out at the front. It has a lot of details in common with the Bob Mackie designs favored by Tina Turner, Diana Ross, and Cher in the 1970s and '80s: Throughout pop diva history, Mackie has been tapped by performers seeking out similarly revealing and glamorous looks for their moments in the spotlight. His label's archive has recently made a comeback with a new generation of stars tapping into their opulent sides, including Sabrina Carpenter (who wore Bob Mackie to the 2024 MTV VMAs) and Zendaya (who wore a Cher-inspired vintage naked dress to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony this year).
Neither Miley Cyrus nor the Bob Mackie team disclosed the sum she paid to acquire her "Flowers" dress. The singer did open up about what the piece means to her. "This dress represents more than a performance—it’s a celebration of the relationship between music, artistry and glamour," Cyrus said in a press release first shared via People. "This performance was a pivotal moment in my life and to have Bob Mackie’s support in securing it means the world to me."
On the designer's part, Mackie forever associates the dress with Miley Cyrus's victory lap while wearing it. "Miley’s performance at the 2024 Grammy Awards marked an unforgettable moment in her career. As the designer of this dress, I couldn’t imagine it on anyone else," he said in a press release. "That girl was born to perform!"
