Elton John’s most iconic outfits

With lots of sequins, feathers and bright colours, the singer’s fashion has never been low-key says PRUDENCE WADE

Sir Elton John has been honoured for his glittering music career and extensive charity work. The 74-year-old was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by the Prince of Wales during a Windsor Castle investiture ceremony, wearing an uncharacteristically simple black suit.

“I’ve had an amazing life, music has been my life, and I got this for music and for work for charity. I may not look as if I’m 100 per cent fit – but I’m not quite – but I’m still raring to go and I’ve got a lot more work to do as far as my life goes,” the musician said.

“So this is just a reminder that there’s more to do. More work to do for music, more work to do for charity and life is great – I’m so lucky.”

Sir Elton has released a hit single in every decade since the 1970s and has cemented his status as a bona fide style icon along the way.

He’s carved out a niche as the king of feathers, sequins and OTT stage outfits – recreated in great detail in the 2019 biopic of his life, Rocketman.

These are some of the star’s most iconic outfits from over the decades…

 

At the Dodgers stadium…

For a 1975 concert at the Los Angeles Dodger stadium in California, Sir Elton performed in an entirely bedazzled Dodgers uniform. This was one of his many collaborations with designer Bob Mackie.

In 2018, he told V Magazine: “Bob has said that his approach to dressing me for stage was to “treat me like a male showgirl” – and that’s exactly what we did! Together, we had so many ideas. He couldn’t make the clothes fast enough. Bob made some fabulous outfits for me—feathers, sequins, glitter—totally outrageous one-offs. I look at them now and they make me howl with laughter. We had so much fun!”

 

In the film Tommy…

Sir Elton played the Pinball Wizard the 1975 film Tommy, based on The Who’s rock opera album. He was dressed in a typical on-stage outfit – lots of bright colours, sequins and a strange hat – with the unusual addition of Doc Martens made into stilts, so he towered over everyone else.

 

In a military-inspired costume…

In the early Eighties Sir Elton performed in various military-inspired looks amped up beyond belief, with huge epaulettes, plenty of badges and a hat balancing on his head.

The star was rarely seen without a pair of supersized statement glasses, often coloured and sequinned.

He told V Magazine: “I’m proud of the part I played in moving eyewear from function to fashion. My eyes needed the functionality, but ‘blowing up’ what could be done with frames and lenses gave me an exciting new way of expressing myself.”

 

At his 50th birthday party…

Sir Elton has become known for his extravagant themed birthday parties, and his 50th in 1997 was no exception. He dressed in a white, feathered and sequinned Louis XIV outfit, complete with a voluminous curly wig and a miniature silver Spanish warship on top. His costume was so big that he couldn’t take a normal car to the venue – and had to arrive in the back of a van.

 

In Versace…

The musician formed a close relationship with Gianni Versace in the 1990s, often wearing the designer’s clothes. He threw a party for the Elton John Aids Foundation at Versace’s Old Bond Street store in 1997, wearing an eye-catching pale blue silk suit, accessorised with a cross necklace and typically Nineties-style small sunglasses.

 

In glittering Gucci…

While today we see Sir Elton in significantly less feathers than we did in the Seventies, he always stays true to his signature style. He regularly wears a pair of his famous glasses and a highly embellished jacket – as seen at the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. In recent years, Sir Elton has become close with the Italian fashion house Gucci. Creative director Alessandro Michele has designed the singer’s outfits for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour – set to resume in 2022 – and you can expect a lot of logoed, bejewelled jackets.