1971 - The adventures of.......
“The Cisco Kid”

After his fourth Las Vegas season where Elvis mainly relied upon “older” suits, he travelled to Stateline, Nevada to open a two week engagement at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. During this engagement the visitors would not only be surprised with a new opening theme but also with a lot of new stage clothes, although they can all be filed under one category; the “Cisco Kid”. For the first time since 1969 Elvis would get back into the routine of the two-piece outfits.

It was a combination of sleeveless jackets, pants and shirts. Most jackets had leather shoulder parts in a contrasting colour. On most of these combinations Elvis wore the “Gold Attendance Belt”. The two-pieces were the first variations on the “Cisco Kid” theme. Later, during his fifth Las Vegas Seasons, a jumpsuit variation made its debut.

The two-pieces were done in black, white, light blue and lilac. There was also a cream and a light blue version without the leather shoulders.
 

With the black two-pieces he mostly wore a black shirt. With the others he would wear a white shirt.

Later on, when the on stage career of the “Cisco’s” was over the jackets would be used as travelling costume during several tours in 1973 and 1974.

As stated before the jumpsuit variation on this theme made its debut during Elvis Las Vegas engagement that started on August 9^th, 1971. There were three black jumpsuits and one white version. The three black suits had red, green and light blue leather shoulders, on both sides of the lapels a star shape done in gold nails. Smaller sized stars appeared on the backside of the arms and along the legs. There was also a bigger star on the backside of the suit. This goes for both versions (sleeveless jackets and jumpsuits). The leg inserts were not, as usual, in a contrasting colour but just in the colour of the suit. None of the “Cisco Kid” has cuff buttons. The white suit has black leather shoulders with the same star pattern. On most of these suits Elvis wore the “Gold Attendance Belt” with the exception of the black “Cisco Kid” with light blue shoulders which has a matching leather belt with copper lion heads.

A personal note: the simple, plain and straight forward design of the “Cisco Kids” make them a personal favourite of mine. Leroyoy

Alternative Names

Fan Names: Cisco Kid Jumpsuit

Design Name: Cisco Jumpsuit

Images are reproductions of the original designs by Bill Belew & Gene Doucette