Royal Blue Fireworks (aka) Owl Jumpsuit (1972)

[merry77]

I do see that the blue swirl is purplish in color. If you look in the Sean Shaver book you can see the photos are purple as well.
From what I read online is the fact the blue turns purple is a problem of the ccd chip, not the old fashioned photographic film cameras.
Also the embroidered arabian small patches look purple in the photos in the Shaver book. Same with the peacock, american eagle and in other books as well. It shows that the effect of blue into purple wasn't such a problem with old fashioned photos. Therefore it may be the wrong assumption to assume that the problem was worse in the 70s. Large percentage of photos show it wasn't such a problem.
Silver nitrate works differently then a ccd camera. It's not for nothing that the ccd camera was welcomed with skepsis in the photography world.

I do agree that lighting, quality of film are of influence. I still think the color is a dark navy and with bright lights it becomes dark blue as we see in the movie.
An experiment would be to film the present day suit with old fashioned 70s cameras and see if it shows up purple or blue. My hypothesis is that it will show up purple and not blue as in the on tour movie.

[drumzz70]

The suit embroidery IS purple on all those suits mentioned, i picked the 2 that had alot of it on there. today in graceland just like the owl suit it is purple embroidery. Its purple that appears blue. if you film the real suit today i would say it still looks blue 70's or not depending on lighting and the film . it is certain cameras do different things. its like tv settings and pink and green tint, some people like more pink so the red is lighter others dont, so its more green to darken the color. i'm sure both our cpu monitors and tv's have different settings. so its what ur eyes inturpit though a certain media source as well. i personally like the suit better as a dark navy but..... until someone actually can do such an experiment or take one of those stars off , or finds the real Cape we'll have our own opinions. But for now i'm going to abstain from further discussion on it, i think we found a happy medium and agree on ALOT of things about it. but until further info surfaces i want to wish you a Great holiday's season coming and we'll talk more when more info comes to light.

[merry77]

Wish you also happy holidays. You've put in a few valid points (and I hope I did too). Indeed, until we have further evidence material it is very hard to say it is this or that color. It's okay to be of different opinions. Keeps us sharp.
And yes I agree with you that the embroidery is purple.

[drumzz70]

merry77 , happy new year . I think this is some futher info I found on rareelvispresley.com under the On Tour tab . when on the page its the 3rd from the last entry and it has equipment used to film the on tour movie. It shows a picture of the camera and details, it was french made Eclair 16mm ACL cameras that they used. If you do some research on those cameras maybe some new light could help solve the mystery of purple appearing blue. Let me know what you find out, i would be interested in knowing more.

[paul]

not true if the cape gets in to light doesnt matter if washed or not the light will fade this royal blue wich is the natural color when light hits the color it will change it to purple automaticly

[drumzz70]

i agree , the suit is blue but it hd a red overtone which gave it a plum eggplant color purple. but the film and photos don't recognize it as purple and only shows blue. it's a common thing in photography that purple is hard to capture. ur eyes see what's in front of you, but a camera breaks down what it is made to recognize and red is one of them the doesnt always show true red. which is why in Purple blue will show up more when blue is the base color. if its a red color purple it will stay purple but a lighter pruple. I suggest doing a shearch online about how purple shows blue on film and pictures, or contact one of the band mates or sweet inpsirations women singers from elvis band and you'll know the truth.

[Tony Trout]

As Gene and Bill & Butch & Kim @ B&K Enterprises have said: "THE SUIT IS BLUE!" It's not any other color than blue. There was an accident when the suit was taken for a cleaning and the suit now appears purple but that is not the true color. And I guarantee you that Gene Doucette would tell you the same thing.

[drumzz70]

they say that because that is what they were told, they never went and tried to find the truth, you need to go on the website rareelvispresley.com and find the capes and belts tab, once on there pan down just before the end, you'll see a picture caption with Elvis backstage in vegas with all the new suits on, the forth picture down is the owl suit and it IS purple in the picture. 2 other photos of the owl suit are there where the suit looked blue with different flash lighting those were taken the same time and show up different colors. why would Elvis be taking pictures with a suit that came back back from the cleaners that turned purple. also if it went to the cleaners and turned purple they did a great job because it didn't miss one spot. the only thing that happened was the purple suit came back lighter purple. people who were at the show even mention the suit didnt look blue in person. like i mentioned contact a band member and ask.

[Tony Trout]

You mean to tell me that you are going AGAINST the people (Gene & Bill, respectively) that designed the suit in the first place? That's absurd.

[drumzz70]

until the original cape comes forward or someone removes one of the stars to reveal blue under it ( because a cleaning issue would not have gone under all the stars i would safely say ) then yes. the proof of the color is in that picture i mentioned. also to mention b&k DO offer the owl suit in blue AND purple, for the fact that most people want what they see in pictures which is blue. i personally always though the suit was a dark blue myself until i saw that picture and that is the proof. I've done my homework and have done camera experiments and dark blue based purple does show up royal blue thats science . look at post number 134 on this suit and there is a clear example of how dark purple looks blue with a camera. the same point for the rED burnin love suit. that is not the color it was in most pictures a bright orange red, it was a dark burgandy. and the white suits looked white but were cream color, but the lights and cameras took the true colors to appear lighter. which in turn made the purple suit ( with red being not recognized ) looked blue.

[drumzz70]

I have just received a Historic email response from none other then Ed bonja Elvis's photographer in the '70's, you can email him and ask for your own refernce on his site edbonja.com it took 6 days for him to respond but im sure he is a busy person. He has stated that the OWL suit Was PURPLE when Elvis wore it and he photographed it in '72, and still is Purple as you see it in person , he said it Was the lighting that made the suit change color in the photos. He said the suit to him will always be Purple.

[ntgb]

I think the answer is in the name the makers gave it.

[Tony Trout]

Ed's incorrect. He never saw Elvis trying it on BACKSTAGE at the Hilton in January of 1972, apparently......


The suit sure as heck looks BLUE to me!

[merry77]

Okay, done a job in color correcting the tapestry to another photo taken at the same place, same time.
The black suit is obviously closer to the right color. Elvis face looks normal. Maybe that photo is a tad too dark, since the suits weren't that pitch black.

Also taken in the light of the backstage footage and Elvis walking through the hallway in This is Elvis wearing this suit really makes me think this used to be a blue suit.
Also in one of the GRaceland guide books if you look at the lining in the left sleeve you can see it has a blue lining.

If the suit is purple then so is Elvis haircolor. It is a well known fact that dying hair black gives rise to a blueish color in lighting.

[Tony Trout]

Okay, done a job in color correcting the tapestry to another photo taken at the same place, same time.
The black suit is obviously closer to the right color. Elvis face looks normal. Maybe that photo is a tad too dark, since the suits weren't that pitch black.

Also taken in the light of the backstage footage and Elvis walking through the hallway in This is Elvis wearing this suit really makes me think this used to be a blue suit.
Also in one of the GRaceland guide books if you look at the lining in the left sleeve you can see it has a blue lining.

If the suit is purple then so is Elvis haircolor. It is a well known fact that dying hair black gives rise to a blueish color in lighting.

USED TO BE AND STILL IS BLUE (ESPECIALLY ACCORDING TO THE LATTER PHOTO YOU POSTED WHICH IS THE SAME ONE I ALSO POSTED!)

[John Burrows]

Maybe the shoes will help: Elvis wore black shoes with dark jumpsuits (black, dark blue) and white shoes with bright(er) jumpsuits (red, light blue, (purple?)). So, what kind of shoes does he wear with that suit? Exact, black ones. That could mean the jumpsuit was in fact dark blue...

[drumzz70]

check tony's picture in #213, and then the cape pic , the chair and pillows change from purple to blue just as the suit appears MORE blue in the cape picture. Purple shows blue in photos with different cameras and lighting. Ed bonja photographed him on stage and said it was and always will be the purple owl suit. he photographed a purple suit that came out blue in pictures. Please Email him on his website and get the truth as i did. Edbonja.com

You can do an experiment with a smukkers grape jelly sqeeze bottle and see how this is possible. try a picture with no flash and then with flash and see how purple changes to blue. it doesn't matter if its a jumpsuit suit or not purple still and always has been hard to photograph. do a web search on why purple shows blue in pictures. i personally like the suit as dark blue but it wasn't .

[drumzz70]

I think the answer is in the name the makers gave it.

I'm going to agree on that, if you mean Royal being in the name they gave it ,is meaning royalty, in which Purple is most commonly use to signify royalty. And Elvis was named the King by his fans.

[drumzz70]

Maybe the shoes will help: Elvis wore black shoes with dark jumpsuits (black, dark blue) and white shoes with bright(er) jumpsuits (red, light blue, (purple?)). So, what kind of shoes does he wear with that suit? Exact, black ones. That could mean the jumpsuit was in fact dark blue...

Elvis wore all dark color suits, mainly the white suits weren't white but cream, the red suit was not bright red but dark red( burgandy) , the light blue was not light blue either it was a teal color and all of these suits looked lighter in pictures because of the cameras and flash bulbs, everyone thinks the aloha suit and all the white suits were white but they weren't ,if you look at aloha pictures or video at the fist song you see the scarf is bright white but the suit is cream, but for most of the show it still looks white and that's beacuse of the lighting. he choose cream because it was a richer color then stock white and gave the suits a more classy look. he wore black shoes with the owl because it was a dark grape color, he also wore black shoes with the blue swirl ( lucky suit) . he already had a blue suit so why would they make another blue suit ? they made a black , red, white piwheel suit the blue swirl lucky suit and the purple owl suit. those were all in 71-72,