Elvis Presley's sudden style change in the late '60s led to many guesses as to why he started wearing jumpsuits. Here's what the man who made the King's clothes had to say about the sartorial shift.
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00:00Elvis Presley's sudden style change in the late 60s led to many guesses as to why he
00:05started wearing jumpsuits.
00:06Here's what the man who made the king's clothes had to say about this sartorial shift.
00:10Elvis was famous for his velvety voice, hip-shaking dance moves, charisma, and an outrageous lifestyle.
00:17He was also famous for his iconic, instantly recognizable outfits.
00:21The black leather suit for his 1968 comeback special, the velvet suit he wore when he was
00:26invited to the White House by Richard Nixon, and of course, the spangled jumpsuits he wore
00:30on stage.
00:31All of these outfits and more were designed by the same man.
00:35Bill Ballew was a graduate of New York's Parsons School of Design.
00:38He designed costumes for performers including Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, and Ella Fitzgerald,
00:43as well as for a variety of stage productions including Sweet Charity, Funny Girl, and the
00:48New York City Ballet's production of Giselle.
00:50He also worked on several television specials and programs, including the Emmys, the Grammys,
00:55and the American Music Awards.
00:56Ballew came to work with Presley when producers of the king's 1968 comeback special asked
01:01Ballew to submit some designs.
01:03Ballew had worked with the same producers on another television special, featuring singer
01:07Petula Clark.
01:08Ballew told Salon that his first idea came to him immediately.
01:11It always seemed like people assumed he wore black leather, but we never did.
01:16At that time, though, we were into denim, and I said, what if I just duplicate a denim
01:20outfit in black leather?
01:21Elvis loved it.
01:22That collaboration kicked off a nearly decade-long partnership in which Ballew's designs helped
01:27Presley create a new, flashier, more theatrical presence both on and off stage.
01:32Ballew told Salon,
01:33"...I wanted the clothes to be easy and seductive, and that was it.
01:37And I never wanted anything to compromise his masculinity."
01:40In 2008, costume designer and historian Butch Bolston, who owns the B&K Enterprises Costume
01:49Company and considered Ballew a mentor, described to the Los Angeles Times the design details
01:53Ballew incorporated into Presley's jumpsuits.
01:56Ballew used high, Napoleonic collars to frame Presley's face, adding Edwardian pointed sleeves
02:01and wide bell-bottoms with kick pleats.
02:03Famous costumes included the Burning Love suit, which was red with a pinwheel pattern.
02:08There was the so-called Black Pyramid suit, covered in gold studs, and the Dragon suit,
02:12which featured a dazzling rhinestone dragon motif.
02:15Presley's favorite, said Bolston, was the Peacock suit, which featured embroidered peacocks
02:20with the tail feathers running down each leg.
02:22It sold in 2008 for $300,000, USA Today reported.
02:26The jumpsuits had some practical benefits outside of looking dazzling and outrageous.
02:31Reportedly, the jumpsuits were made in response to Elvis' request for stage clothes that were
02:35easy to move around in.
02:36At the time, the king had become obsessed with martial arts, especially karate, and
02:41his stage moves in the 70s evolved beyond the hip-shaking of his early years.
02:45So he was looking for a style of clothing that was both athletic and fabulous.
02:49Ballew's jumpsuits were the answers to Elvis' prayers, and proved to be a secondary draw
02:54to his live shows.
02:55Elvis joked to the Los Angeles Times in 1970,
02:58"'If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes.'"
03:01There was a lot of continuity that Elvis thought of and the designers thought of when putting
03:06these outfits together.
03:08Ballew wasn't just responsible for Elvis' stage outfits.
03:12He was soon entrusted with creative control of Elvis' entire wardrobe, and he showed a
03:15keen eye for the styles and shapes that best suited the rock and roll icon.
03:19He recalled to the Graceland blog,
03:21"'You could be daring as a designer and put anything on Elvis, and he could make it work.
03:26And the simplest outfits that didn't seem particularly remarkable on the rack transformed
03:30into something spectacular when Elvis put them on.
03:33He was that beautiful and powerful a presence.'"
03:36In an interview with Elvis Australia, Ballew said he thought that Elvis Presley's favorite
03:40outfit of his was the Aloha Eagle suit, which he famously wore for his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii
03:46via Satellite special.
03:47The costume included a cape, and Ballew explained that Elvis told him,
03:51"'Bill, I just want the suit to say, America.'"
03:55Ballew had been in Europe when there had been controversy regarding an eagle being displayed
03:59on an American embassy.
04:00The eagle motif replaced his original idea for an American flag-themed suit, and Elvis
04:05was on board.
04:06The original cape, featuring an eagle with outstretched wings, was floor-length, but
04:11the full-length cape turned out to be too heavy for Presley to move in, actually causing
04:15him to fall over when he attempted to rehearse in it.
04:18Ballew replaced it with a short cape, and later recalled,
04:20"'All these years I always carried this image in my head of Elvis making the step forward
04:24and then bam, laying there amongst all this cape, and I can see him howling with laughter,
04:29too.'"
04:30Though Ballew designed the outfits, much of the embroidery was designed and stitched by
04:34his co-worker Jean Doucette.
04:36Doucette told The Guardian in 2010 that he sketched the original eagle idea for the Aloha
04:41Eagle suit, and explained his costuming philosophy,
04:44"'I didn't just want glitter.
04:45I wanted a story.'"