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There had been
capes before this -- the very idea having been inspired a year
or so prior by Priscilla Presley, who showed Belew a black and
red number she'd bought for her husband on Rodeo Drive in
Beverly Hills -- but never anything quite this ornate (it was
adorned with a silver mirror-embroidered rendition of an
American eagle) or cumbersome. In fact, says Belew of the latter
quality, he purposely made two sizes for that reason alone: A
hefty floor-length one for Elvis' grand entrance, and a more
functional mid-length mantle that would allow the singer a
greater range of motion while performing. "It was such a
swashbuckling thing, and he just had a way with it," remembers
Belew. "Immediately, he knew how he wanted to work it, what he
wanted to do with it. And it just all came together."
But it almost didn't. "The night of the show, I got a call
from [Elvis' friend and bodyguard] Joe Esposito, who said,
'You're not gonna believe what happened.'" Belew recounts. "And
the only thing that came to my mind was, Oh, my God, he split
the costume! Turns out he got a little wild during dress
rehearsal and threw the short cape into the audience."
As if that wasn't enough, Esposito also informed Belew that when
Elvis had tried on the long version, it was so heavy he
literally couldn't stand, much less strut about the stage. "He
told me Elvis was lying on the floor, roaring with laughter,"
Belew says. To compound matters even further, Elvis, generous to
a fault, had given away his large white bejeweled belt, which
bore the eagle motif in miniature, to a friend, the wife of
"Hawaii Five-O" star Jack Lord.
It was, in short, sartorial pandemonium. So Belew, who'd
remained in L.A. to invent frilly fashions for comic Flip
Wilson's popular character, Geraldine, quickly gathered his
wits, marshaled his troops and in less than a day, had a new
ensemble ready to ship off to Hawaii. Initially, Esposito
offered to send Presley's private jet to fetch costume and
costumer and whisk them off to Oahu. But since Belew was busy
dolling up Wilson, he sent a colleague to deliver the goods. "I
was told that [Elvis' people] had two first-class tickets
waiting for him," Belew recalls with a hint of envy. "One for
him, and one for the belt and cape. Here I am dressing Flip as
Geraldine, and he's flying to Hawaii to bask in the sun and have
a great time. We joked about that for years."
Belew remained Presley's designer for another four years,
occasionally, surreptitiously, adjusting garments to accommodate
the King's burgeoning girth. But the Count of Monte Cristos
never caught on. When Elvis died
in August 1977, wakes were held at
Graceland and throngs of grieving mourners filed past Elvis'
coffin to pay their final respects. For his farewell
performance, Presley was dressed in a simple white suit, a gift
from his father. It was the first time in years he'd worn attire
which had not been
designed by Belew.
Now 71, Belew, semi-retired in Palm Springs, Calif.,
occasionally lends his talents to various productions. But he
does so mostly to keep himself busy. A fixture among the music,
film and theater set for nearly five decades, he has enjoyed an
unusually long and fruitful career, during which he has dressed
the likes of The Band, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys
Knight, Milton Berle and scores of others. But the pinnacle of
his life, he says, was his years with Presley.
"He was one of the few people I've designed for who was able to
carry it off," Belew says of Elvis' innate ability to animate
the fashion extravaganzas the costumer created for him. "To this
day, people say to me, 'So you're the one who put Elvis in
rhinestones and all that.' And I just say, 'Yeah, I'm the one.'"
News-Culture-Food | Dec. 18, 1999
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