#Photostory gold full

#Photostory gold full

Nudie would later joke that $9,500 was pure profit, and the actual bill of sale for the suit was for $2,500-but the suit would officially be touted as the ‘Famous $10,000 Gold Lamé Suit.’”Įlvis first wore the full suit for a photo session, probably in Hollywood in February or early March 1957. The suit would be valued at an astounding $10,000.

He had the following tailor measurements for Elvis: neck 15 1/2' chest 42' waist 32' sleeve 31½', pant inseam 32' shoe size 10 height in stocking feet 6'0'.Īccording to : “ As spectacular as the suit was, Nudie and the Colonel (huckster showmen that they were), added a gimmick. Nudie probably created Elvis’s golden attire, consisting of jacket, slacks, belt, shoes, and string necktie, in January 1957, while Presley was in Hollywood filming Loving You at Paramount Pictures. An issue with lamé is that the yarn tends to slip and separate with frequent usage, a weakness that, in the end, would prove the undoing of the Presley ensemble. The most common colors of such garments were gold and silver. In the fifties, the process was most commonly used for fancy eveningwear and theatrical costumes. The material Nudie chose for the gold clothing was lamé, which involves wrapping thin ribbons of metallic material around a fabric yarn.

The Colonel decided that his golden boy needed a golden suit, and so he commissioned Nudie (at left with Elvis) to fashion a gold-leaf tuxedo for Elvis to wear on stage during his personal appearances in 1957. Nudie was working on Presley’s wardrobe for his upcoming film, Loving You, when Parker asked him to make a special outfit for Elvis. Nudie had made extravagant costumes for country singer Hank Snow, with whom the Colonel had been associated before Elvis came along. Colonel Parker had become friends with Nudie Cohn of Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors in North Hollywood a couple of years earlier. While Elvis was completing his breakout year with a whirlwind of public appearances, his manager came up with the idea to have a spectacular outfit made for his famous client. The creation of the gold suit dates back to late 1956. Still, it remains today one of the most iconic costumes in the history of rock music. It turns out the classic outfit had been created almost three years before the LP was released in November 1959, and that Elvis had ditched the full suit after wearing it on only four occasions in 1957. Also like most Elvis fans in those days, I knew nothing about the history of Elvis’s gold suit.