Well, since we are not going to get to see his journals, we may never know. It is an interesting thought worth investigating. Let's all cast a wide net, and do a little brainstorming on this one during the week. Heck, it's January in the midwest...it's not like you can be outside much in the evenings right now anyway. LOL

Agreed! Let's spend some time on this...

Prince's look changed quite a bit from FOR YOU to PRINCE...and even more from PRINCE to DIRTY MIND...

Where trench coats and ruffled shirts a thing during the New Romantics Era?

I guess they were....

Was he basically copying Adam Ant???

Two words: Little Richard

He owes him everything (visually speaking of course, even musically to some extent with all the shouting and wild performances).

In the excellent 1989 documentary 'Prince: A Musical Portrait', Richard even says: 'Prince ? That's me!'

[Edited 1/18/18 20:06pm]

His dad was always a spiffy dresser, pressed suits, neatly creased pants.

FunkyDancer said:

Two words: Little Richard

He owes him everything (visually speaking of course, even musically to some extent with all the shouting and wild performances).

In the excellent 1989 documentary 'Prince: A Musical Portrait', Richard even says: 'Prince ? That's me!'

[Edited 1/18/18 20:06pm]

Prince most definitely gleaned a lot of his "style" from Little Richard. I have seen a few live Little Richard performances and aside from the actual voice differences, Prince is like Little Richard 2.0. The incredible (oftimes manic) stage presence, the screeches, the meticulous styling; both visually and in mannerisms, Prince carried on Little Richard's legacy. (With one glaring exception, Prince always came across / and carried himself as ULTRA hetero (regardless of makeup and/or costume); Little Richard, not so much.)

PennyPurple said:

His dad was always a spiffy dresser, pressed suits, neatly creased pants.

oh ok, that inspired the Dirty Mind look, wow, yeah I can see that lol ... just kidding

In the earlier photos of him he dresses much the same as most young black men in the 70s midwest. However, towards the late 70's (a la Prince 1979) we see him adopt a very femimine sense of style, outrageous some would say, which really helped him create a standout image. I wonder if his height played a part in him wearing a lot of womens clothes? I imagine he must have struggled to find mens clothes that fitted him (not that he would have worn them anyway)

The Controversy/1999/Purple Rain look is reminsent of course of Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix. I've heard it described as a romantic, punk twist on the 17th century. Here's an example of 17th century fashion...

soladeo1 said:

Agreed! Let's spend some time on this...

Prince's look changed quite a bit from FOR YOU to PRINCE...and even more from PRINCE to DIRTY MIND...

Where trench coats and ruffled shirts a thing during the New Romantics Era?

I guess they were....

Was he basically copying Adam Ant???

Ruffled shirts were common styles male musicians from the 60s & 70s. Hendrix wore them a lot too

He seemed to really be into 1940s style and 1800s style (we see this throught his career) Victorians, Pirates, Buccaneers etc

OldFriends4Sale said:

PennyPurple said:

His dad was always a spiffy dresser, pressed suits, neatly creased pants.

oh ok, that inspired the Dirty Mind look, wow, yeah I can see that lol ... just kidding

I didn't say his dad inspired the Dirty Mind look.

PennyPurple said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

oh ok, that inspired the Dirty Mind look, wow, yeah I can see that lol ... just kidding

I didn't say his dad inspired the Dirty Mind look.

LOL I know I just took your post to the opposite end of Prince's style spectrum lol

FunkyDancer said:

dandan said:

laurarichardson said:

dandan said:

In the earlier photos of him he dresses much the same as most young black men in the 70s midwest. However, towards the late 70's (a la Prince 1979) we see him adopt a very femimine sense of style, outrageous some would say, which really helped him create a standout image. I wonder if his height played a part in him wearing a lot of womens clothes? I imagine he must have struggled to find mens clothes that fitted him (not that he would have worn them anyway)

The Controversy/1999/Purple Rain look is reminsent of course of Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix. I've heard it described as a romantic, punk twist on the 17th century. Here's an example of 17th century fashion...

He took this stuff from new wave acts. Like Adam Ant and Duran Duran. How old are some of you.

Duran Duran's first album came out in 1981 and they looked like this...




Whilst was Prince was alread wearing his iconic trench coat years before. Here he is pictured in 1980.

laurarichardson said:

FunkyDancer said:

Two words: Little Richard

He owes him everything (visually speaking of course, even musically to some extent with all the shouting and wild performances).

In the excellent 1989 documentary 'Prince: A Musical Portrait', Richard even says: 'Prince ? That's me!'

[Edited 1/18/18 20:06pm]

No, Dez said the high hair came from the Stray Cats and Andre Cymone said his sister Linda designed a lot of his early trench coats. Some pics of his dad are around and he was snazzy dresser.

I think he tried to find the most flamboyant and sensual outfits he could put together to stand out. What he may have lacked in stature, he made up for in flair and sex appeal! (Would you rather be tall & poor or rich & short, is what one of his half-sisters was quoted as saying to him.) The over the top musical ability was the icing on the cake...

Seahorsie said:

laurarichardson said:

FunkyDancer said: No, Dez said the high hair came from the Stray Cats and Andre Cymone said his sister Linda designed a lot of his early trench coats. Some pics of his dad are around and he was snazzy dresser.

I think he tried to find the most flamboyant and sensual outfits he could put together to stand out. What he may have lacked in stature, he made up for in flair and sex appeal! (Would you rather be tall & poor or rich & short, is what one of his half-sisters was quoted as saying to him.) The over the top musical ability was the icing on the cake...

outrageous flamboyant and sensual was common place in the 70s and 80s. Prince fit right it.

Like the one guy mentioned, he definitely took a lot from Adam Ant who was rockin' the ruffles and trenchcoat look as early as '79, and Prince Charming came out in '81 though it was far more punk than the 1999 look.

Purple Rain is straight up Hendrix no matter how you slice it...

Little Richard for the hair, and later on the James Brown body suits like the D and P era...

almost forgot, hello 1999...

dandan said:

laurarichardson said:

dandan said: He took this stuff from new wave acts. Like Adam Ant and Duran Duran. How old are some of you.

Duran Duran's first album came out in 1981 and they looked like this...




Whilst was Prince was alread wearing his iconic trench coat years before. Here he is pictured in 1980.

Young people Sigh !! In the video for Planet Earth they are wearing pirate shirts so was Adam Ant and a bunch of New Romantics. Dez Dickerson even said that got a lot of ideas from the New Wave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NF6Qa84mno

Planet Earth Video See Ruffled shirts

Adam and the Ants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B2a6l6wM2k

He was influnced greatly by the new wave movement and it worked on his RnB audience because most had not idea where he stole the look from.

[Edited 1/19/18 19:24pm]

Prince might of sample from different artists and made his own style.

Musician9 said:

BillieBalloon said:

I loved his Parade era yellow suit. He put away the ruffles and went with corporate boss with a twist look.

He wore the ruffles a lot off stage

and those midriff half top outfits/suites were the opposite of the 'corporate' boss look

I just so happened to listen to an interview with Jessie Johnson on YouTube (Jesse Johnson - Why Prince was a Gender-Bender). OP's question answered. 3"10' - forward. Little Richard was most definitely a major style influence - for Prince and a bunch of others...