Minor spoilers for Priscilla front. With his flamboyant stage costumes and fashion, Elvis Presley influenced much of the style of the 60s and 70s. But to Priscilla — Sofia Coppola’s film starring Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and his ex-wife, based on Priscilla Presley’s book Elvis & Me — the clothes tell a more subdued, intimate story of a woman creating her own identity.
For costume designer Stacey Battat, who also worked at Coppola’s The Bling Ring and The Enchanted, PriscillaHis costumes began with a 1970 photo of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, where, she says, it was obvious the two had diverged, not just in style but in real life. “I think early Sofia and I looked at this photo and I noticed how it just looks so uncomfortable,” says Battat. “I think that photo informs so much about how we saw them later in the film.”
At the start of the film, viewers meet 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, who lives in Germany with her family on a US Army base, wearing pastel cardigans, cute A-line skirts and a choker necklace. In preparation, Battat and her team researched fabric choices and silhouettes from the late 50s and early 60s, looking at vintage themes Fashion and Harper’s Bazaar for inspiration. They also looked at an actual photo of Priscilla saying goodbye to Elvis as he left Germany for the United States, wearing a plaid dress and a sheer scarf draped over her head, which they recreated for the film.
Later, Priscilla moves to live with Elvis in Memphis, Tennessee, where she transforms, from plaid skirts and hair bows to opera gloves and sparkly mini dresses. When the couple go shopping, viewers see Elvis telling Priscilla what to wear. “This is obviously informative[s] the suits he wears later», says Battat of the scene, where Elvis also asks Priscilla to dye her hair from brown to black and start using eyeliner. Since then, we’ve seen Priscilla in a revolving door of Elvis-approved blue and pink clothing (no prints or brown, which Elvis detests).
While many of Priscilla told through more intimate moments between the couple – such as at home where Priscilla wears pastel underwear and nightgowns – the film shows the couple’s marriage in 1967. For the looks, Battat collaborated with Chanel and Valentino, who they made Priscilla’s dress and Elvis’ suit respectively. True to the photos from the Las Vegas ceremony, Virginie Viard of Battat and Chanel created a long-sleeved, lace-embellished A-line gown for Priscilla, paired with a tiara and waist-length veil. “THE [look] it had references to the original dress,” says Battat. “And then we adjusted some things to fit Cailey [five-foot-one] context.” Similarly, Battat recreated the outfit Priscilla wore after the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie, staying true to the original with a bubblegum pink dress.
His last half Priscilla sees Elvis Presley at the height of his career in Las Vegas and Priscilla alone in Los Angeles. As the two separate, they also dress differently. The singer-actor trades his leather jackets and evening jackets for vibrant jumpsuits — for which Battat teamed up with BK Enterprises — while Priscilla embraces the looser nature of ’70s style in pants and prints and her natural brown locks.
“We looked at historical images of Elvis and Priscilla and thought about what image they projected to the world,” says Batta. “I think it became a lot more theatrical and masked – a lot of make-up, jewellery, big sideburns. This is happening uncovered.”
Priscilla is now in theaters nationwide.
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