AUGUST 7, 2008 – Elvis Presley’s peacock jumpsuit was sold at auction for $300,000
AUGUST 7, 2008 – Elvis Presley’s peacock jumpsuit was sold at auction for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold at auction. The white outfit with a plunging V-neck and high collar featured a blue-and-gold peacock design, hand-embroidered on the front and back and along the pant legs. It is cinched at the waist by a wide belt decorated in gold medallions in a design resembling the eye of a peacock feather. The auctioneer described the seller as “a big Elvis collector” and declined to say who bought it. The jumpsuit came from the private Elvis collection of Paul Lichter of the former Elvis-A-Rama Museum in Las Vegas.Presley paid $10,000 to have the outfit made by Los Angeles designer Bill Belew, who created all of The King’s stage wardrobe between 1968-1977. It captured the rock ’n’ roll legend’s fascination with peacocks as a good luck symbol and the auction house said it was among his favorite Belew designs. Elvis first wore the costume at the Forum in Los Angeles on May 11, 1974, and later for the cover of his album “Promised Land.”The previous record for an Elvis collectible is $295,000 for his 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II.The most ever paid previously for one of his stage costumes, the so-called aloha cape, which was worn during one of his last television shows, was $105,250. Both were sold at a 1999 auction at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee run by Guernsey’s.