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Legends: Bill Belew with his
TCB neckless, one of his designs and Elvis showing off one of the
suits created by Bill.
Bill Belew has the distinction of having designed
Elvis Presley’s costumes and personal wardrobe from 1968 until his
death in 1977. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New
York, Belew has also designed costumes for a multitude of
entertainers, including Lynne Redgrave, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker,
Ella Fitzgerald, Gloria Swanson, Sandy Duncan, Victoria Principal,
Pia Zadora, Joan Van Ark, Brooke Shields, Jaclyn Smith, Joan Rivers,
Gloria Estefan, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack and Dionne Warwick, as
well as Milton Berle, Doc Severensen among a numerous others.
Did Elvis approach you for the 68 Special?
Actually it was Steve Binder who was the producer of
the show, and also directed it. He had gathered together a group of
us that were from the east. Because he wanted something different
than what was being done in Hollywood at that time. And, my first
experience working with Steve was on the Petula Clark Special when
Petula came to America. We did that special and were received with
great applause and accolades from everybody. And so, when Steve was
approached to do Elvis, he asked if I would do the wardrobe on it
‘cause he wanted to keep us all together.
What was your idea for the black leather outfit?
Actually when we started talking about it, Steve said
what he wanted literally to do was to base it around a concert, of
Elvis and the boys. And he said "What are your thoughts about what
he will wear?" And I thought about it and then I said, "I've seen
him in leather jacket, but I've never seen him in leather". And I
said "Why don't we do…" because at that period, everybody wore
denim. I mean, wore blue jeans and denim jackets. And I said "Why
don't I have a denim jacket and a pair of jeans". I said "Why don't
I take those and I have those copied in black leather?" And Steve
said, "I love the idea you said. Will you do a sketch of it?" and I
did a sketch for him. And that's how it came about. And, in looking
at Elvis, the one thing that struck me when I met him, that he was a
very good looking man. And, a lot of things that during the period
when I started designing are based upon things that, or periods that
I go through in my life. And I've always been a great fan of
Napoleon. And when I looked at Elvis, I said he's the one person
that I could do the Napoleonic collar with it, because it'll frame
his face.
And he said I like a lot of things that you do for
women, when you're designing their clothes, is to draw your
attention to their face. And I thought well if I have the collar up
there, people will notice his face and it'll frame it, and however I
do it and that's how the collar came about.
It was your idea, not Elvis.
No, the one thing that I really have to say about
Elvis is that he was absolutely fantastic to me. He never ever said
this is what I want. You know, do this for me. I won't wear this. We
only had one little disagreement on something that we were doing on
the special. But, all of our working relationship there was never
anything that he just wasn't, you know, terrific about.
When Elvis made his comeback in Las Vegas, tell me
what he wore.
Well, when Joe had called me, saying that Colonel
Parker would like me to do Elvis wardrobe for Vegas and would I be
interested and I said yes. What we wanted to do at the time, was
experiment of what would be the best look for him. And, of course,
that was really my first time to work in Vegas. Having worked on the
stage in New York it's quite different. But the lighting there was
still in its early stages. And we found that the colour that worked
the best was white. It allowed them to change the colours on him,
where as black would absorb all the colour. And it was hard to
highlight him. And we experimented with blue which was one of his
favourite colours. Red. But it just ended up that white was the best
thing and, of course, you know, you want the star to be the person,
you know, and not the wardrobe.
Black held more heat.
Yeah, also that, too, you know. It's great. It makes
you look thin. But at that time goodness knows, that was not one of
my worries to making him look thin. I mean, I've always been very
lucky in that, as I say now, when I talk to the fan clubs. Bob
Mackie had Cher, I had Elvis Presley. I mean, it was a fabulous body
to design for. He really wore and had a flair for clothes.
Legends: Elvis
showing off one more suit, another design by Bill and the cape for
the Aloha jumpsuit.
Were they made out of gabardine?
For the special, I used at that time which was a very
hot fabric. And a lot of men’s clothing were being made it of it,
was called a stretch wool jersey. And so when we went to Vegas, I
contacted Ice Capades, and I talked to some friends of mine there.
And I said, "Would ya'll be interested in making Elvis Presley’s
clothes for Vegas?" Because I would like to use what is known for
ice skaters as stretch gab, or gabardine. And, it allows skaters to
do their splits, their turns, and everything. And I thought it would
be great for Elvis because the one thing he said that he wanted to
incorporate in his act was his karate. And I thought I've got to
find something that will allow him to do that. The wool jersey that
we used for a lot of these suits on the special, although it looks
great, it's very warm. And, I knew that he was a person that
perspired a lot when he performed. So I didn't want to add any more
heat than I absolutely had to his wardrobe.
His costumes became more and more jeweled. What was
his favourite?
Well, I know he liked the dragon suit. I know he
liked the peacock. He liked the leopard. And, of course, I think
possibly his favourite was always the Aloha Hawaii suit, the
American eagle, you know.
Didn't you have short notice to make a cape?
Right, right. Well, I had this grand idea when we
were going to open in Hawaii. And we had long discussions about what
the suit was going to be because Elvis said, it's the only time that
he really expressed any concern about what he was going to wear. He
said, "Bill, I just want the suit to say America". And we battled
around a lot about what we were gonna do. And I remember when I was
in Europe, I had seen the American Embassy there. And there was a
big controversy at the time about it, the American eagle being
across it. And I said, "I've got it". He said, “I know what'll work
‘cause I had thought about the American flag” and I said, “No, no.”
And I said, “The American eagle.” And he said "That's great. I like
that", and so we did that.
So I said, "We'll do this cape, and you'll come out,
you'll have your back to the audience and you'll open it up. And
then go into the overture and bam you'll turn, and there you'll be".
And the cape was to be floor length. So we made the cape. The cape
went to Hawaii. And Elvis put the cape on, went to step forward, and
fell over backwards. The cape was so heavy that he couldn't even
walk in it. And I got the call that said, "Bill, that the cape is
great but Elvis can't move in it". So we immediately went in
production, made a short cape, for him to wear for it. But I always
had this, all these years I always carried this image in my head of
Elvis making the step forward and then bam. Laying there amongst all
this cape. And I can see him howling with laughter, too.
How long did you have to make the new cape?
We had just a little over a day. We worked literally
24 hours on it.
Elvis also had trouble with fringe?
A lot of the things that I did for Elvis in the early
days were a lot of things that I and other kids were wearing at that
time. So a lot of the things were trimmed in macram and fringe and
beads of that period. And, of course, you know, with all the
movement and playing his guitar, it just never dawned on me the
fringe would get all wrapped up in him. It wasn't until later when I
did a couple of other things for other stars, and I was using fringe
and I'd see them all wrapped up in it. And I'd think oh my god, what
must it have been like for Elvis, with all this fringe swinging
around him.
The fringe was so long at Inglewood that he got tied
up.
Right, yes. Oh yes.
What was the idea behind the gypsy suit?
It was just an idea like anything else. I had just
seen a picture of a gypsy costume and I just thought well that would
be interesting. I was always trying to think of interesting things,
because so much of what we did and the progression Elvis costumes
were really dictated by the fans. A lot of it I would've been
interested in starting much earlier. But the one thing that I never
in all the period I designed for Elvis, I never wanted any mention
of his masculinity be brought up by oh, you know, why was he wearing
this or why is he doing that? So it was really just a progression of
the fans. The more we did, the more they would applaud. And, the
more they would do. And so it finally got to the point where I
figured well, we can do the jewels, and there won't be any question,
you know, about what he's wearing.
Tell us about the Sun Dial.
Again, I was reading something in a magazine and
happened to see this article on the Aztecs. And I saw the Aztec sun
and I thought, you know, wouldn't that be a great design? And just
used it.
It seemed so intricate and difficult to make.
No. There were others that were much more difficult
but it was very intricate in the fact that it was very heavily
embroidered. And it took quite awhile to work the pattern out and to
do it.
You worked on future costumes.
Well, the last thing I was working on and we had
actually done a prototype of it. And, it was called a laser suit.
And I had met an electrician who was into lasers. And lasers at that
point were still relatively new. And laser shows were becoming very
big. And so, I designed what I thought was going to be ultimately
the jewel suit. It was called the diamond suit. And, what we did,
there were certain points, and it had very large stones that would
tell him where he could puncture himself. And that's where the laser
would shoot. And we had these strategically placed on the suit. And
as I say, you know, whenever he would touch himself then the laser
beams. And, we had it almost to the point where it was ready to be
shown to him. And I was in fact, the morning I heard of his death, I
was on my way to the studio because we were gonna put it on the
figure. And the electrician and I were going to test it. And, that's
it.
Legends: Bill
Belew, shortly before he died, and one more of his creations.
If Elvis had gone to Europe what were your ideas?
The laser suit was it. Yeah, that was the one, you
know. but it just didn't--- yeah.
Tell us what it was like to work with Elvis. Any
funny stories besides the cape?
He just was so great in that he never questioned
anything I ever did. A lot of times Joe would call and say. There is
one funny story. We had just started out in Vegas. And I did not
know this about Elvis, that Elvis was a night person. And in those
days I was considerably younger so, maybe probably 11:30, 12:00s
probably when I went to bed. And so I was in bed. And I think it was
like about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and the phone rang. And of
course, the only thing at that period in my life was, it's my
mother. Some things happened. My mother, they're calling. So I pick
up the phone and it was Joe Esposito saying, "I want to talk to you.
Elvis wants to order some more clothes". And all of a sudden, I
realized I don't have any paper or a pencil or anything. And I had a
bedside table that I had made beside my bed and it was covered in
velvet. So the only thing I could do is I took my finger, and I
started writing Joe's notes on the velvet and thinkin', god please
let me remember everything he tells me. So I'm writing all this down
and Joe's giving me all this information. And I immediately got up,
turned the light on after we hung up, and got pencil and paper and
sat down and started deciphering all my notes. From then on, there
was always pencil and paper by my bed. I said, this is never gonna
happen again.
But basically, the wardrobe that I did for the stage,
he never said, you know, later on I did find out that, which I liked
and it made me laugh, is that it would arrive and he would model it
for the boys. And I've seen pictures of that from some people, of
him modelling the wardrobe, and laughing and having a good time.
And then, of course, when public relations got to the
point where he was speaking so much and meeting so many people, he
said would I do his personal wardrobe? Because it was a body that
was hard to fit, in that to go in and get something off the rack, it
had to be altered. And like so many people he was not a person that
was into having a lot of fittings on everything. So, I guess there
were a lot of interesting things that I did for him, and probably
one of the biggest things was, of course, when he met President
Nixon. And he called and said, you know, "I want you to do a suit
because I'm going to meet the president". And I always remember that
being such a big thrill for him because, I remember I had worked for
Kennedy. And I was doing a show in New York for which Jacqueline
Kennedy had asked us to be one of the people that came to the White
House for his birthday party to perform. And I know what that was
like, being a small town southern boy. There's nothin' like meeting
your president.
And, so, one day I was up at the house, after Elvis
had come back. And normally all I did, I was in the living room and
we conducted all of our meetings. And, I was asked to come back into
the bedroom and I thought oh God now what's gonna happen, you know.
I'm goin’ back. And he and Priscilla were in bed and he had all the
books out and the pamphlets and everything from the president. He
said I want you to see all this and he said see how great it is. And
we were sittin' there and we were lookin' at the books and the
things that were autographed for him. And I said, "I know how you
feel because I know what it was like when I met President Kennedy".
I thought it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me.
And later I happened to work with Tish Balridge and she said, "What
could I do for you?" And I said, "Somewhere in the vaults, there’s a
picture of me meeting President Kennedy. I would like to have it".
And Tish Balridge was just absolutely fabulous. I don't know how she
ever found it. God she did and I got the picture and it still sits
on my table, in my living room. But as I said to Elvis, I said "I
know how excited you are. You know, I just can, I'm right there with
ya". And it was like a little boy, you know. We just had a piece of
candy and boy we were just havin’ a good time. And I think I have a
book and a couple of other papers that he gave me that night. He
said, "I want you to have these, from my visit, at the White House".
Terrific.
Was it kind of a purple suit?
No, it was dark navy blue.
What were you thinking when you designed it?
Well, it was very similar to almost everything else
that I had done for him. The basic clothes, you know. And the only
thing that I did, is add the cape to the suit, which sometimes we
did sometimes we didn’t, you know.
Tell us about your TCB.
I was absolutely amazed. You know, I had seen the
guys with their TCBs. And one day, I was up there and we were
discussing some wardrobe things. And he was, which he did most of
the time, he was sitting on the floor in front of me, as we were
talkin'. And he said, "I have a gift for you". And he opened it up
and there was a TCB. And I just couldn't believe it. I thought,
gosh, I'm one of the guys now. Really.
Tell us some memories of Colonel Parker.
I had very little to do with the Colonel. Almost all
of my dealings were with Elvis.
Where did you work?
In Los Angeles. I lived in Los Angeles at that period
in my life. Yeah, because I was doing a lot of television and other
things at that time.
Did Elvis ever tell you anything that's always stayed
in your mind?
No, no, not really. I think the only thing for me is,
he called and said that Sonny West was gonna get married, and he
wanted a suit. A tuxedo. So I designed a tuxedo for him. And he said
to me, "Go down to Schwartz and Albusser and have them make me some
jewelry". And I said, "Oh no, no, Elvis. That's too personal. You do
that yourself", you know. "No, no, no, you go on down there. You
design me some jewelry". And so I went down there and that's how I
met Saul and Abe. And as time progressed we got to know each other.
And it's just one of the best stories of how generous
this man was. And, Saul was tellin' me that there was a lady that
had been coming in for quite some time, and had been admiring an
emerald and diamond ring. And it was very expensive. And, she just
would come in. And look at it and they'd been trying to talk to her
about putting some money on it, paying it off. No, no, no, her
husband wouldn't allow her to do it. So anyway she was there that
day when Elvis walked in. And, she looked at it and he took it and
put it back into the case. And Elvis said to him, you know, "What's
that all about?" And he said well, you know, and told him the story
about her. And, how she'd always wanted this ring and she was afraid
her husband would get upset if she bought it. And, he said, "Go and
box it up and give it to her". And he said, "You really?" He said,
"Do it", and so he did. He went to the lady and she said, "What's
this?" And he said, "That gentleman over there, Mr. Presley, would
like for you to have this ring". And she got very emotional and she
said, "No, no, you can't do this" and he said, "Anybody that wants
something that bad, should have it". And he said, "I want you to
have it. And please, accept it with my love and my gratitude". And I
just thought that was the neatest thing in the world. Just the
neatest thing.
Is there a favourite story you'd like to tell his
fans?
Oh. I guess is really the splitting suit in Vegas. I
just think, I was ready to die. I just wanted to go underneath the
table. I just felt so embarrassed, when I found out that the suit
had split. Needless to say I went back and made sure that never
happened again. But for me, there were a lot of things, you know,
about him but, it's for me there have been a lot of people, a lot of
wonderful people, that in so many ways that he opened the door in
designing clothes for people, that he opened for me that I probably
would never have gotten to them had it not have been that entré, you
know. Because he did--- the special caused a lot of talk, and a lot
of interesting. I still find it, you know, to this day I still there
are times that I play it. It's still wonderful, you know.
Tell us about that story.
I had forgotten about this one. When Joe called us
and said the cape and the belt had been thrown in the audience, we
were not prepared for that. We, of course, immediately went right
into production and made it. And at that time I was doing a show
with Flip Wilson. And I had again created Geraldine for Flip. He
knew what she was like. But, not visually what she was like. So he
said, "I leave it to you to create Geraldine". So I had to stay in
LA because that Friday night we were going to be taping that, and
the clothes had to go to Hawaii. So, the plane had been sent,
tickets, everything was set. So I said to Nicky, who did the
embroider work on the clothes for Elvis. I said, "Nicky, do me a
favour, please. Take these and go to Hawaii, and deliver them for
me". And Nicky said, "Oh sure, great". So he gets on there.
And there is an empty seat for Elvis clothes. So,
little while after they were in the air, the airplane stewardess
came by and she said, "What is that in the seat beside you?" And he
said, "That's Elvis Presley’s belt and cape. I'm delivering them to
Hawaii for his special". And a little bit later, Nicky said, "I hear
this murmuring". And he said, it's the stewardess. She said, "Elvis
cape is up in that seat". And he said a little bit later she came
back and she said, "Could I touch that?" And he said, "Sure". And
she reaches down and she went back she said, "I touched Elvis’
cape". I had forgotten how funny that was till Nicky reminded me of
that story.
"I've touched Elvis’ cape".
You wouldn't be surprised now to know how many people
would love to touch the clothes.
Exactly. Exactly.
Your designs are so original that everywhere you see
Elvis you see your work. How does that make you feel?
Terrific. I think probably one of the neatest and
coolest things that ever happened was, I think maybe it was either
like three or four years ago in Esquire. Versace said, "The
one thing that I envy is Bill Belew having the job of dressing Elvis
Presley. That job I would've liked". And I have the article and
every once in awhile when I'm down, I pull it out and I read that
and I thought, that ain't bad, kid. Look from a little hick town in
the south. That's pretty good that Versace wanted to design for
Elvis, too.
You made Elvis happy and you made millions of fans
the world over happy. A thousand years from now they'll still enjoy
your work.
It's so nice to have been a part of his life, really.
It's so nice to have you sit down and talk with us.
Thank you.
Oh, my pleasure, always.
Fonte:
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