Ask almost anyone what Cher wore to the Academy Awards in 1986 and she will have no trouble recalling the Indian headdress and the bare midriff.

Ask the same person about Carol Burnett’s “Went With the Wind” dress, and, if they’re of a certain age, they’ll invariably describe the velvet costume made from the mansion’s drapes – with the curtain rod still attached. Funny and outrageous, these getups are two of the most recognizable ensembles of all time. They were designed, of course, by Bob Mackie.

Known variously as the “Sultan of Sequins” and the “Master of Glitz,” the irrepressible Mr. Mackie is making a play for a new generation’s affection by auctioning off 150 pieces from his private archive today at Christie’s. On the block are costumes from “The Carol Burnett Show” and “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” red-carpet gowns, sketches, and feathered headdresses.

The designer himself decided to clean out the closets. “I’m not like Miss Havisham, but there’s enough that I have no idea how much there is,” Mr. Mackie said. “I thought I’d better do something before I died and they started turning up at Halloween parties.”

With 40 years in the business, Mr. Mackie has designed for television, film, Broadway, Las Vegas, and his own ready-to-wear line, winning nine Emmys and a Council of Fashion Designers of America award for “exuberance” along the way. He was behind all of Ms. Burnett’s most storied television appearances, notably her parody of Shirley Temple while wearing an organdy baby doll number, which is expected to bring $3,000 to $4,000 at Christie’s.

Other iconic pieces include a 1975 silver quilted jumpsuit made for Elton John ($5,000-$7,000), and the superbly opulent Queen Elizabeth costume worn by Whoopi Goldberg at the 1999 Academy Awards ($3,000-$5,000). “It’s the size of a small VW bus,” Christie’s specialist in charge of the sale, Cathy Elkies, said. “Bob made it to fit like a cage over her gown.”

Although unabashedly over-the-top looks are quintessential Mackie, the auction catalog includes a surprising amount of tamer, more wearable clothing that could be fairly described as elegant.

“I hope this auction will make people reconsider their misconceptions of Mackie as the guy who just put Cher in nude bodysuits,” the owner of Decades, a vintage boutique in Los Angeles, Cameron Silver, said. “There’s a lot of modern red carpet pieces that are so what’s happening in contemporary eveningwear.”

Even a mid-1970s creation for Cher falls into the wearable category – a black and silver lurex biascut halter-style gown ($1,500-$1,800). Among the pieces from Mr. Mackie’s fashion collections that garnered oohs and ahs at previews in London, Los Angeles, and New York are a plum and burgundy ombre silk chiffon one-shoulder gown ($700-$900), and a black and white chiffon beaded tank dress worn by Teri Hatcher to the Mackie retrospective at the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1999 ($800-$1,200).

If the prices seem low, Ms. Elkies said the “super conservative” estimates were intentional. “I think some pieces will soar way beyond estimate – certainly the celebrity-associated pieces,” she said. Competition is expected to be especially fierce among fans of Diana Ross, Tina Turner, and Judy Garland.

Mr. Mackie grew up in Southern California in the 1940s and ’50s, star struck by the all-out glamour of studio system Hollywood. As a teenager, he designed costumes for school plays and musicals. “Fortunately, we had a flamboyant drama teacher,” he said.

After a couple of years at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, Mr. Mackie started assisting legendary studio designers Edith Head, Jean Louis, and Gilbert Adrian before landing a job on “The Judy Garland Show.” In 1967, Ms. Burnett hired Mr. Mackie to design some 50 costumes a week for the 11-year run of her variety show.

Mr. Mackie met Cher when she and Sonny Bono guest starred with Ms. Burnett, and soon he was the costume designer for both shows. In Cher, Mr. Mackie found his ultimate muse. His sexy designs for her kept TV censors busy – but no matter: Millions of Americans tuned in to see his glittering inventions every week. In 1975, Cher appeared on the cover of Time in one of his signature, seemingly see-through “illusion” dresses, which is similar to the one at Christie’s worn by Sharon Stone in “Casino” ($800-$1,200).

Mr. Mackie also set the standard for the extravaganzas of Las Vegas’s golden age of showgirl entertainment. “It comes out of me so easily, it’s scary,” he said.

While Mr. Mackie’s heyday may be past, his revealing looks for Cher have been embraced by the masses ever since Tom Ford based his 1999 Gucci collection on the entertainer’s ’70s style. “It never should have become mainstream fashion,” Mr. Mackie said. “Only a perfect creature like Cher can pull it off.”

Mr. Mackie launched his first ready-to-wear collection in 1982. Since, then his business has grown to include made-to-order clothing, Barbie dolls, housewares, and clothing and jewelry lines for QVC.

He also continues to work closely with his core celebrity clientele – a rare thing in the age of the perpetually borrowed red-carpet gown. Mr. Mackie won his ninth Emmy for the costumes Cher wore on her 1999 “Believe” tour. His next TV project is designing Ms. Burnett’s evil queen costume for “Once Upon a Mattress.” For those designs, he said, “Think Joan Collins as a medieval drag queen.”