Elvis Presley: A Fashion Icon

Sometimes we forget that aspect of Elvis that was not music, movies, sex, drugs and rock & roll.  I mean that which was pure and true fashion trend setting.  Elvis wore his hair long before everyone else thought it was fashionable.  Elvis wore pink when most men wouldn’t be caught dead in it.  Pink was in fact, Elvis’s favorite color.  Elvis wore silks, velour, handmade and custom shirts before anyone else thought to do it.  Elvis wore big belts, jewellery normally not seen on a man but on Elvis…well he made anything look good. Unfortunately, a lot of the pictures that were taken of Elvis in the early days were black and white and although colorized more recently (see picture H below as an example), we are still not getting the true picture of the flash and style that was Elvis in the 50’s.

So it’s only appropriate and way overdue that EPE would set up a tribute to the fashion trend setter that Elvis was.  You can read the full story here at elvis.com but before you go, take a look at the pictures below.  If you’re an Elvis Insider you can vote for the picture to represent this fashionable tribute and the first group here is the gallery of pictures eligible to vote for. My choice will be C but it’s not the greatest version of that picture so I have provided you with a much better copy of it from my own collection below the EPE picture. (scroll down)

This is Elvis at Graceland when it was empty prior to moving in and he was there to plan the interior decorating. Folks, this is the spring of 1957 and if you didn’t know better, you just could not guess that this outfit was worn by the sexiest man ever over 52 years ago.  I love this picture, it is one of my all time favorites.     

Here are some more shots from my collection of what I feel is indisputable proof that not only did Elvis send men’s fashions spinning off into an entirely new universe but that he alone could wear absolutely anything he wanted to and get away with it.  What would make most men look feminine and ridiculous would make Elvis look deliciously masculine. 

These two are also my all time favorite pictures of Elvis and don’t miss the pink socks eh?  He was probably wearing pink shorts too.

And then of course there’s that infamous black leather outfit that he was so worried was going to make him look silly on national TV back in 1968.  Silly? Not a chance.  Hot? Definitely and in more ways then one. To this day I don’t know how he did that show under those hot lights with that outfit on.  But did he make it look good? Absolutely!!!

Again, here’s the link to the story at www.elvis.com