Arabian Jumpsuit (First Version) (aka) Memphis Jumpsuit (1973-1974)

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

Arabian (First Version) (aka) Memphis Jumpsuit (1973-1974)

This suit was also called the Kitchen Sink Jumpsuit, the story goes that Elvis wanted a new Jumpsuit and wanted it made quickly, so Gene Doucette and his team used anything and everything they could lay there hands on to make it look impressive, i think you will agree that it worked.

The Arabian pattern design was also used on the King of Spades (Arabian Second Edition) minus the pattern on the arms.

Known Dates Worn:-

March 9, 1974 (8:30 pm) Charlotte, NC.
March 10, 1974 (8:30 pm) Roanoke, VA.
March 16, 1974 (8:30 pm) Memphis, TN.
March 18, 1974 (8:30 pm) Richmond, VA.
March 20, 1974 (8:30 pm) Memphis, TN.

[The fool]

This photo alone puts me in a good mood. Such a happy smile.

[boogie]

I like this concert very much, and i wonder what pictures excists from this concert, here are some of mine
greetzzzzz Boogie

[kennyelvis]

Great pictures boogie :D
But i can see that your 3rd picture are not from Memphis, this is a picture from march 10th 1974.
Here are a few i have from Memhis.

[kennyelvis]

The pix are not sooooo great, but they are one of a kind, so you will not see them from no one else :D

[buttonhead]

memphis jumpsuit..

[buttonhead]

more pics of this gorgeous outfit .

[Fuzzylilkisses]

I love this Jumpsuit, its beautiful. Thanks 4 the good pix.

[sabbath]

Memphis Suit with Original Belt

Las Vegas
1973 09 03 CS

[thejumpsuitman]

A little dark in the museum, but here are a couple close-ups.

[amzietamzie]

thejumpsuitman... those are the most beautiful pictures! thank you so much for posting them! i had no idea that the jumpsuit was truly that beautiful... stunning! thank you! :D

[polksaladhasie]

This jumpsuit is sooo beautiful (y) (y) i love it.

Great Pics!!

[Skelvis]

I never saw a pic from the memphis suit with the cape on stage. The black remake from the film 3000 miles to memphis looked great.

[elvis fan 1976]

Roanoke VA March 10 1974

[IM4Elvis]

I definately love this particular jumpsuit. It's too bad he didn't wear it more often. It would have been really neat to see it with the cape. :)

IM

[IM4Elvis]

What does the cape look like from behind? Does anyone have any pics of the cape fully opened from behind? :newyear:

IM

[Unchained Melody]

Such a great design on this suite. Very cool looking indeed although I do perfer the King Of Spades suite over this one.

[Unchained Melody]

What does the cape look like from behind? Does anyone have any pics of the cape fully opened from behind?
IM

As far as I know, this suite did not have a cape made with it.

[delvis57]

This is my first time on this sight and I really enjoyed seeing all the pics of the Memphis Suit or Nail King of Spades? Does anyone have a quality closeup pic of the back of the suit? Thanks,
Delvis57

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

This is my first time on this sight and I really enjoyed seeing all the pics of the Memphis Suit or Nail King of Spades? Does anyone have a quality closeup pic of the back of the suit? Thanks,
Delvis57

Here are a couple of shots.

Matt

[elvis himselvis]

This suit is nice,but on pictures i think this suit is more nicer than when you see it own person

[Tiger Man]

My father is a commercial illustrator, and when I was a kid I begged him to do picture of the 70s Elvis for me. He painted this pic. I was thrilled. Alas, a few weeks ago, I was home going through my father's artwork and asked him about the painting. He told me he didn't like it and threw it away. I was bummed (though he does have a number of great paintings of the 50s Elvis.)

Also, I heard this jumpsuit weighed nearly 30 lbs with the cape. It was this weight that inspired the lighter embroidered suits.

[ilovelvis]

A little dark in the museum, but here are a couple close-ups.

Ah, thank you for the close-ups of this suit. They really show the detail and color of the design and stones. I saw this suit on display in Hollywood when I saw Lilo & Stitch at The El Capitan theatre a few years ago and seeing it close up, it is stunning. I'm giving this a 10 out of 10!

[richardo316]

thanks very much for this info on this suit:D

[Tommy]

Here's another:

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

Here's another:

Cool photo Tommy (y)

[Tommy]

Cool photo Tommy (y)

Thanks Matt(y)

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

Two more photo's, these are nice shots (y)

[SleepyJack]

Some great photos of this lovely suit...thanks to you all.There is something almost other-worldly about those photos from the museum...beautiful.

[jean francois]

We go out heavy artillery in photo I thank you jumpsuit junkies :lmfao::lmfao::lmfao:

[Diane Lynn]

if that's the way this suit story . got it made .they did a wonderful job

[ELVIS2001NET]

In the new dvd "Fit for a King" Gene Doucette calls this suit the kitchen sink.
why?
Because he was cleaning all his overstock of buttons and studds so he could get more in.
so he refers to it as the kitchen sink because there is everything on it but the kitchen sick.
Joe Krein
www.elvis2001.net

[elvisfan92]

This photo alone puts me in a good mood. Such a happy smile.

totally agree with you (y)

[elvispresleytheking]

Have any pictures of Elvis with the cape surfaced (possibly from an unknown date in Jan/Feb, or a surprise where Elvis actually wore capes in August September?

[elvispresleytheking]

What does the cape look like from behind? Does anyone have any pics of the cape fully opened from behind? :newyear:

IM

Scroll down and you can see it on this page, when it shows a page from the book.
http://www.elvis.com/jumpsuits/book/

[elvia7]

I like this concert very much, and i wonder what pictures excists from this concert, here are some of mine
greetzzzzz Boogie

Thank you boogie :)))
Your photo are amazing!!!!
I love this Jumpsut :)!!!!

[easyrider]

Great photos!!!!!

[el gerry]

What can i say about this suit vulgar , gawdy and over the top . It does look like they used any left overs they had to make it . One of the Top 5 bad suits

[Brad Stalnaker]

Kitchen sink indeed

[barron]

try b-k-enterprises.com

[barron]

I never saw a pic from the memphis suit with the cape on stage. The black remake from the film 3000 miles to memphis looked great.
if you would like to see the original cape take a look @ this websit
shopelvis.com look under books and you will see this suit on the front cover and more

[barron]

check out the shopelvis.com they will have the photo

[Tigerman1975]

Belew outdid himself on this one.

[nabelt24]

Does anyone know where the original belt is located?

[Leroy]

Good question. Would not surprise me if Gracland has it tucked away, not knowing to which suit it belongs. They don't seem to have a clue which belt goes with what suit.
At this point the 1973 "Aabian" has the belt of the 1973 "Multi Colored Rainsuit". The 1973 "Multi Colored Rainsuit" has the belt of the 1973 "Nail Studded Suit". The 1975 "Chief" has the belt of the 1974 "Egyptian", but with the original "Chief" buckle. Are you still with me ?

[merry77]

There is an interesting photo on RareElvisPresley.com.
This one:
http://www.evdmeer.dds.nl/elvis/belts.jpg

It shows a picture of several belts.
Top left contains: embroidered eagle, multicoloured rain, royal blue fireworks, stone tiger, aloha, chief. Many of those still in posession of Graceland.
Top right Peacock (which was auctioned off), nail studded
Bottom left Arabian (first version) and Arabian (second version). The second one is definitely in posession of Graceland.
Bottom right Dragon and Wheat. Both belts definitely in posession of Graceland. Both shown in the Jumpsuit all access booklet.

So this leads me to the conclusion that the belt was definitely owned by Graceland. It has not appeared in an auction. So I would assume it is still owned by Graceland.

And I also still am astounded by the fact that the Archive department who apparently documents everything does such a lousy job connecting the correct belts to the right costumes. Unfortunately it's impossible to get through to the archive department.
Because if they documented everything then I would like to see the backsides of more capes.

[Leroy]

Nice picture and thank you for sharing. And you are so right about the Archive Department. I once got through to them because of a mistake they made about the date Elvis received the 1969 "Gold Attendance Belt" . I even had prove they were wrong, but they are hard headed. They seem to have their own time-line where it's Elvis concerned.

[medleyofcostumes]

Not to repeat myself for the nth time - that's why we need a Leroy jumpsuit book. You must be a fan to go into detail of stagewear and the painstaking effort, time, resources to get the right info. Graceland is only concerned with IMAGE and Elvis IN GENERAL. They are not experts but rather jack of all trades - they need 'specialists' in different aspects of Ep's persona and carrear.

[nabelt24]

Good question. Would not surprise me if Gracland has it tucked away, not knowing to which suit it belongs. They don't seem to have a clue which belt goes with what suit.
At this point the 1973 "Aabian" has the belt of the 1973 "Multi Colored Rainsuit". The 1973 "Multi Colored Rainsuit" has the belt of the 1973 "Nail Studded Suit". The 1975 "Chief" has the belt of the 1974 "Egyptian", but with the original "Chief" buckle. Are you still with me ?

Thanks, Leroy! Isn't it amazing that they have it so mixed up? Wish we knew the reasoning behind it all. Doesn't make much sense to me.

[Tommy]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/MemphisJumpsuitTommyTCB.jpg

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/MemphisTommyTCB.jpg

[richardo316]

thanks for the nice pics, i like this suit

[Tommy]

thanks for the nice pics, i like this suit

You are welcome, thank you. (y)

[Tommy]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//31/1973_King_Tommy_TCB_I.jpg

[elvia7]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/MemphisTommyTCB.jpg
THANK YOU TOMMY!
" THANK YOU VERY MUCH" ....;)

[Tommy]

YOU ARE WELCOME EVI..........."THANK YOU VERY MUCH"......;) (y)

[elvia7]

I noticed that in this ELVIS costume looks very beautiful.
I have proof - a book "Caught in a trap"(y)

[Tommy]

I noticed that in this ELVIS costume looks very beautiful.
I have proof - a book "Caught in a trap"(y)

Wonderful book..........thank you very, very much. (y) :D

[richardo316]

thanks for the great pics for this suit

[Tommy]

thanks for the great pics for this suit

Thank you my friend. (y)

[Tommy]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/1974RoanokeTommyTCB.jpg

[Tommy]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/RoanokeVA100374-8.jpg

[richardo316]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/RoanokeVA100374-8.jpg
thanks very much for sharing this very nice picture with us

[Tommy]

You are very welcome my friend Richardo............thank you very much. (y)

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

Here is a nice shot of this Jumpsuit

http://imageshack.us/a/img831/7812/23september1973.jpg

[Tommy]

Thanks my friend Jumpsuit Junkie, for all the cool photos. (y)

[elvia7]

http://www.tcb-world.com/gallery/data//32/1974RoanokeTommyTCB.jpg

I LOVE THIS ELVIS PICTURE!!!! TOMMY!!!!!We miss YOU and yours AMAZING PICTURES!