Elvis Presley expected Priscilla Presley to always look perfect. “Some can’t have the truth,” she said on ITV’s “Loose Women” in 2016 (via Entertainment Tonight). “I always had a little bit of makeup. He never wanted to see me getting dressed, he wanted to see the end result.” In the aftermath of their divorce in 1973, Priscilla came to believe Elvis wanted to transform her into an ideal. “Something in his Southern upbringing had taught him that the ‘right’ girl was to be saved for marriage. I was that girl,” she said of the Mississippi native in her People essay.
According to Priscilla, he tried to accomplish that by controlling her persona. “He molded me into his woman. I wore the clothes, hairstyle and makeup of his careful choosing.” It was through Elvis’ interventions that Priscilla ended up with her signature bouffant — even though she liked wearing her long hair down. “There’s nothing wrong with it, honey,” she said he’d answered when she questioned the need to call in a hairdresser during a trip. “It’s just that this is Las Vegas. Everyone has their hair done.”
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The same process resulted in Priscilla’s famous winged eyeliner. “You need to apply more makeup around your eyes — make them stand out more,” Priscilla described. “They’re too plain naturally.” It took Priscilla years to understand the toll it took on her identity. “I realized that I don’t know who I am,” she said on “Loose Woman.”
