Dressing to Make the Women Stare

As his career progressed,so his clothes have gone through different styles.1985 was all psychedelia.In "Raspberry Beret" he told us that "overcast days never turn me on",so he wore the brilliant blue sky suit with a few white clouds,indicating he was "in the mood" for a roll in the hay down at Old Man Johnsons.That "something about the clouds and her mixed" was a cheeky reference to his own body,intertwined with hers in passion.The long overcoats and short,sexy vests which were the norm during the Parade era.A Rolling Stone cover from that time has a fabulous shot of Prince in a ornate blue top and matching trousers;with a big smile on his face (which we don't see nearly enough of in promo shots[c/o Ingrid Chavez]),he is at his most relaxed,ie.in the company of women ,in this case Wendy and Lisa.Also his yellow parade suit is very similar to David Bowie's 'Modern Love' suit,so he isn't above borrowing styles from another pop eccentric.

Sign O The Times album cover showed a subtle and temporary addition to his outfit, an ordinary pair of glasses.This was to highlight the thought and intelligence of the title track,and maybe to show Prince as an observer of the world and its decay.

Lovesexy's album cover had an infamously nude Prince,completely vulnerable and as nature intended.He was almost a modern day Adam but for the missing figleaf,which was replaced by a large sexually-excited orchid,as ever Prince equating religion and sexuality.The Alphabet St. video introduced us to the now familiar chest high trousers,a twist on the perspective of clothes,similar to his cropped shirts and jackets of late.In the "Glam Slam" video he wore an ornate blindfold.The thing they had "transcends the physical",not referring just to physical sex,but physical objects generally.They didn't need to see to experience the joy of Lovesexy,which was a feeling after all,hence the blindfold didn't restrict the effect.

While the Sign o the times tour had him and Cat wearing very cool designs,often with sexy cutaway sides,to go with the coolest album and tour ever,sex appeal was not a factor in the Lovesexy tour clothes.This wasn't music,it was a trip, and whoever designed their costumes was on some serious mind-bending drugs.With his hair in tight curls and ribbons,the short black trousers with white leg stockings created a victorian pageboy look that only Prince could get away with.During the piano medley,the long white coat adorned with letters was a delight (and brought to mind Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat,perhaps a deliberate religious connection there),but the outfit with the 'eye no' emblem looked like a cross between a superhero's costume and a naff aerobics outfit.One of the few suits even Prince couldn't carry off.

Speaking of superheroes,the following year saw Prince contributing to the Batman movie with his soundtrack album.The Batdance video saw him dressed in a split costume,one side Joker,the other Batman,his face and hair similarly painted/styled to suit the characters.Think back to the recent 'Batman Forever' movie,where the lead villain was a character called Twoface.half his face scarred by acid,he developed a split personality and dressed in a similar split-style,half conventional black suit and half leopard-skin jacket and trousers.This was no coincidence. The Batdance video was shown immediately before the movie in, many US cinemas and so was seen by a lot of non-Prince Batman fans.Prince is a longtime Batman fan (one of his famous musical beginnings is playing the 60s Batman TV series theme on his fathers piano at the age of 7) and the deliberate echoing of Twoface's garb was,if you will, a deliberate fashion statement to all the batfans that he wasn't just some know-nothing airhead pop star brought into the project for no apparent reason.

For the Nude tour prince grew his beard and moustache and with his longer hair,this was his warmest,most human look to date.Graffiti Bridge saw him mixing the traditional biker leathers with his normally flamboyant clothes,and the two didn't really sit together well.Much more stylish were the tailored waistcoats worn during the diamonds and Pearls/cream videos,which must now be fighting for space in his vast wardrobe with the huge yellow,black and purple romper-suit affairs worn on the subsequent tour.

Interesting to note that for the Peach video he wore a Marc Bolanesque red suit,whereas Cream has been referred to as having echoes of T-Rex,what with the "filthy cute/dirty sweet" similarities.Lyrically Cream and Peach are in a similar vein,so to complete the equation,both songs were integrated together in the extended Purple Medley single.

Interviews in 1994 gave him the chance to,show off his newest clothes for the camera.For Q's photoshoot he wore a fabulous white jacket with gold inlaid sleeves and collars,on top of the blue and yellow suit worn when he performed TMBGITW at the Monte Carlo awards. When he granted Guitar World an audience later that year,the front cover showed him in a red frilled jumpsuit which,along with his short hair,was one of his more feminine looks.Clearly Guitar World caters more for the rock/metal market than the pop/funk scene and so of course 0((+> wore that outfit to deliberately provoke the narrow-minded metal fans who normally read the magazine.With his 0(+> guitar across him,he had a deliberately defiant look on his face,as if to say "Yeah,I'm a guitarist ,what are you gonna do about it!"It did the trick.The following months letter pages were split between readers who welcomed the change of pace of the article,and the diehard metalheads who were incensed at the very idea of 0(+> in their magazine.

For the "Dolphin" video he was dressed conservatively (for 0(+> anyway) and wearing normal glasses;Dolphins are amongst the most intelligent species on the planet,so when 0(+> "came back as a Dolphin ",it was a metaphor for returning wiser than when he was Prince,hence the glasses again emphasized intelligence,like they did back with "Sign O The Times".

To promote the release of Exodus in the UK,0(+> was seen throughout the year wearing shirts with NPG and "The exodus has begun" emblazoned on them and whenever he performed "Get Wild" on the last tour he has covered his face with a red scarf/net mask.(Sorry that was Tora Tora,a completely different person,but you must admit that under the scarf he bears a remarkable likeness to 0(+>).

Recently we saw his most remarkable image change to date,the 0(+> symbol was shaved/tattooed onto the side of his head and he changed his hair colour.The Sun printed a great headshot of his new look suggesting it was part of a tough new image,as he was sick of people thinking he appeared too glitzy.Generally,people who don't want to look too glitzy don't dye their hair gold and sprinkle glitter on them do they?

The single cover for "I hate U" had 0(+> in a very significant pose,"wearing" a taut string from each finger and smiling subtlety.Indicating he would no longer be a puppet to Warners (if he ever was),he was in control from now on and was pulling all the strings where his music was concerned.

Really,looking back over the years, it is amazing how many different looks Prince/0(+> has had. He has never tried to be a trendsetter in the way that Madonna(successfully) and Jackson (unsuccessfully) have.His clothes have always been part of his message to go against the norm and be an individual,a recurring theme that has featured in songs such as Uptown,Lets Go Crazy,Walk Don't Walk and Gold.Everything about him says originality and change,from his music to his bands names:The Revolution and The New Power Generation. All are part and parcel towards him being one of the most unique recording artists of all time.