![]() ![]() In fairness, Flowers and his sparkling band – complete with rip-roaringly fabulous backing singers – create a compact, buzzy rock’n’synth show. With or without the gold lame Elvis jacket, he’s got no game. But when he is the whole show, his lack of starry wiles tells. And that is Flowers’ one real impediment tonight: when on stage with the Killers, he’s one-quarter of a highly proficient hits assembly line that equals far more than the sum of its Stepfordian parts. ![]() Brandon Flowers may have just released his second solo album, but to non-aficionados he is still interchangeable with his band, whose last London show was at the roomier Wembley stadium. Luckily for the fans, Elvis’ gold lamé suit was preserved and is frequently on display at Graceland.“Tickets for the Killers, anyone?” offers a tout outside Brixton Academy. He told Belew, “I always hated that suit and I won’t wear it.” Instead, Belew ended up creating a silver-sequined jacket with black trim that Elvis wore with black pants. ![]() When costume designer Bill Belew wanted to recreate the gold lamé suit for Presley’s 1968 television special, Elvis refused. As he explained to a Vancouver DJ in 1957, he stopped wearing the gold pants since the creases were not flattering. He still wore the gold belt and jacket, but rarely wore the gold shoes or necktie. For most of his 1957 performances, Elvis substituted black pants for the gold. However, during his concert tour, he only wore the full suit a few times. On March 28, 1957, Elvis wore the gold lamé suit for the first time in public at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago. The gold pants created problems for Elvis since the gold sequins would flake off when he slid on his knees while performing. For starters, lamé is not an easy fabric to wear since it is made of thin ribbons of metallic threads. While the fans loved the outfit which seemed to fit with Elvis’ rock and roll image, the one person who did not like the suit was Elvis himself. Colonel Parker, inspired by a gold costume that Liberace wore, told him: “I want you to make something for him that’s out-of-this-world spectacular.” Nudie, a flamboyant country and western tailor, was famous for putting rhinestones on clothing for many country stars of the day. Just a few months earlier, Nudie had designed a red and white cowboy outfit that Elvis famously wore when he sang “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” in his second film, Loving You. Parker commissioned Nudie Cohn of Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors to design the flashy gold suit, which cost $2,500 at the time. Surprisingly, the suit was custom-made on the request of, not Elvis, but his manager, Colonel Parker. The gold-leaf tuxedo with silver rhinestones included a jacket, trousers, belt, shoes and necktie. and Canada and later on the album cover for 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong. The famous gold lamé suit made specifically for “The Memphis Flash” (a nickname from Presley’s early days) became iconic when Elvis wore it throughout his 1957 concert tour across the U.S. However, probably the most flashy suit associated with The King of Rock and Roll was one that Elvis did not want to wear. He was a regular customer at the Lansky Brothers clothing store in Memphis where he purchased stylish jackets, shirts and pants that helped him stand out among his peers. Elvis exhibited a unique sense of style throughout his career with outfits like his jeweled Las Vegas jumpsuits and his exclusive TCB (“Taking Care of Business”) jewelry. ![]()
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