Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla opens with candy-hued shots of Priscilla Presley getting dressed, filling in her winged eyeliner, and applying false lashes. You wouldn’t be remiss in thinking it looks like a makeover montage. And, while Priscilla does undergo a gradual sartorial evolution over the course of the film, unlike the usual superficial makeover trope, the film’s fashion plays a part in the character arc just as much as the plot and dialogue.

The female gaze counterpart to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Coppola’s Priscilla is less focused on the King of Rock and Roll’s musical legacy and more on the relationship between Elvis and his wife Priscilla. The film focuses on the ten-year age gap between the two and the nuanced vulnerabilities of a young girl falling in love with a superstar. The narrative is very much informed by Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, which also influenced the film’s aesthetics. For costume designer Stacey Battat, this meant crafting a wardrobe that evolves seamlessly through the years shown on screen, aiding in the presentation of Priscilla’s emotional and mental journey. 

The viewer is initially introduced to a young Priscilla, aged 14, lonely at an army outpost in West Germany where her father was stationed. Cailee Spaeny looks incredibly juvenile onscreen, which adds to the discomfort of watching her and Elvis begin their relationship, even though the two share nothing more than a kiss. While Spaeny plays the part with a vulnerable innocence, costumes also play a huge role. “A big part of making Priscilla appear younger was hair and makeup. Jo-Ann [MacNeil] and Cliona [Furey] did a fantastic job,” Battat says. “When it came to costumes, I opted for 50’s silhouettes that had fuller skirts and crinolines, creating a more childish form and [then] gradually reduced the puffiness of the underpinnings. I also used softer pastel colours and more childish details like Peter Pan collars early on. Later opting for more sophisticated details.”

As their relationship blossoms, Priscilla eventually moves to Graceland where her wardrobe undergoes a more glamorous transition. In a bid to appear older and more sophisticated, teenage Priscilla is seen obsessing over a pair of white pumps, which she is later seen walking around Graceland in. Elvis famously never left his bedroom unless fully dressed, a habit Priscilla also adopts, favouring trends that were the height of 60’s fashion including an array of fabulous mini shift dresses, abundant bow embellishments and the big hair and eye makeup Elvis decreed Priscilla should wear. “Some of what was in the script was also in the book, for example, Elvis not liking prints or brown and preferring blue,” Battat explains.

While at Graceland, Priscilla also attends school, donning a uniform of checked pleated skirts paired with Peter Pan collar shirts and pastel cardigans that serve as an ordinary foil to the teen’s extraordinary life. Incidentally, it is also Battat’s favourite Priscilla fashion moment, “I think it really captured the ordinariness of her experience… It struck the right balance between ordinary and otherworldly which really harkens to her experience. She was a girl experiencing all the things we all go through but in this strange and heightened world.”

While the film doesn’t cover much of Priscilla’s life after the couple’s divorce, viewers are given glimpses of her future style, which as the owner of a clothing store, was just as iconic as it was while she was with Elvis. “From when she meets Elvis he is informing how she dresses,” Battat says. “First in Germany wanting to appear older and later in Memphis wanting to adapt to his ideal. Later on, when she is ready to leave, I think the shift is that she is informing her own choices and learning what she likes, experimenting with her clothes and looking beyond what Elvis likes.”

The first glimpse of this is in a scene depicting the Presleys’ family portrait shoot where Priscilla wears a lilac blouse and purple trousers while Elvis is dressed much grander in a bright blue suit. Priscilla’s ‘60s shift dresses give way to the flared trousers of the ‘70s showing a gradual evolution into her own style and tastes. 

“I was careful to keep her in blues and not use wild prints later on because it was important to show that her change was due to her own preferences and not a reaction to being angry at him,” Battat says. And, by the close of the film, Priscilla is seen in almost formal black flared trousers and a white blouse, hinting at the promise of a new future for Priscilla, both emotionally and sartorially.

Whether you’re enamoured by teenage Priscilla’s fuzzy cardigans and pleated dresses or the glamorous shift dresses she wore as Elvis’ wife, we’ve found the pieces helping you tap into her style in a thoroughly modern way.

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