The Dirty Mind era.

The entirety of the 90s after 1992 or so. Prince might have looked his best with the George Michael style stubble and Typhoon hair, but it was a long slide from there. He looked borderline anorexic for a while.

Best: tie Dapper Young yellow suit and black and white Parade era stuff (come on, that hat in mountains was the bomb) or the hippy artsy SOTT look

Worst: 1990 - 1993 - that wierd half beard and Typhoon do. gun mic...ugh...

Mid 90s got better during Come/Gold with that Alien Pixie do thing and the super androg "Versace" look...then he settled with a bit more "normal" stuff through the rest of the decade and into the 00s. Love the return to his 'fro towards the end.

The New Power Soul/Rave era with the weird hair shit was so ridiculous. I like the blue suit, and he had that Graffiti Bridge feathered flowy hair, but the hair in stuff like "Come On" on Leno, or even in "U Make My Sun Shine" video was silly.

Some of the clothes in Lovesexy felt amateurish, especially with the names on everyone's outfits, the one-legged tights on Sheila or Cat was half-assed (literally and figuratively). However, things like the polka dot suits he wore in the first part of the show was hot. I also loved the coat he wore in the 2nd half of the show with one of the coattails buttoned up. I did love the fonts and pink & blue colors on the album and the singles. The newer Paisley Park offices logo kind of worked their way into some of the aesthetic, so that was fun. Going back a year, all the peach was a bit much for me sometimes on SOTT. But stuff like the outfits for "Hot Thing", "Forever In My Life", "Beautiful Night", were great. I liked the eyewear, too.

I hate his afro in the last years of his life. He was losing weight and looked consistently unhealthy by the day. The shiny peach outfit on the Grammys or whatever was horrible, but the fringe jacket w/ the teal outfit was nice. The fro really threw him off visually because he could rock a vest or the pants or fringe cuffs, but the hair overpowered the look. I don't mind an afro in general, but it was just bad for him.

TrivialPursuit said:

The New Power Soul/Rave era with the weird hair shit was so ridiculous. I like the blue suit, and he had that Graffiti Bridge feathered flowy hair, but the hair in stuff like "Come On" on Leno, or even in "U Make My Sun Shine" video was silly.

Some of the clothes in Lovesexy felt amateurish, especially with the names on everyone's outfits, the one-legged tights on Sheila or Cat was half-assed (literally and figuratively). However, things like the polka dot suits he wore in the first part of the show was hot. I also loved the coat he wore in the 2nd half of the show with one of the coattails buttoned up. I did love the fonts and pink & blue colors on the album and the singles. The newer Paisley Park offices logo kind of worked their way into some of the aesthetic, so that was fun. Going back a year, all the peach was a bit much for me sometimes on SOTT. But stuff like the outfits for "Hot Thing", "Forever In My Life", "Beautiful Night", were great. I liked the eyewear, too.

I hate his afro in the last years of his life. He was losing weight and looked consistently unhealthy by the day. The shiny peach outfit on the Grammys or whatever was horrible, but the fringe jacket w/ the teal outfit was nice. The fro really threw him off visually because he could rock a vest or the pants or fringe cuffs, but the hair overpowered the look. I don't mind an afro in general, but it was just bad for him.

Maybe it's because I'm a straight dude, but I thought those outfits were really hot. Especially Sheila's. Are you saying it wasn't creative enough sexualization?

When it comes to the afro, I mean, he was getting pretty thin on top which relaxers don't help with. The afro gave an illusion of fullness and density when fully picked out, so I can see why he went in that direction.

Graffiti Bridge look. I know it's a favourite for a lot of people but no thank you.


I thought the fro towards the end looked cool.

Mikado said:

Maybe it's because I'm a straight dude, but I thought those outfits were really hot. Especially Sheila's. Are you saying it wasn't creative enough sexualization?

When it comes to the afro, I mean, he was getting pretty thin on top which relaxers don't help with. The afro gave an illusion of fullness and density when fully picked out, so I can see why he went in that direction.

Most straight guys did find them hot, but as an aesthetic, it felt cheap. Maybe that says more about some (not all) straight guys who like to look at women like they're cheap and were drawn to that. I mean, one wrong leg kick and a lot more would be exposed to the audience.

He also went w/ the afro, according to Kim Berry, was that he was just tired of dealing with it in general. Fine, and all. It wasn't complimentary to him when he started to get thin.

jaawwnn said:

Graffiti Bridge look. I know it's a favourite for a lot of people but no thank you.

I'd agree. The hair and beard were fine, but the clothes were sloppy. The leather jacket missing a sleeve - no thanks. That onesie with the one shoulder strap, but he had on a loose tunic under it which hung out on one side etc was just shittastic. (I think maybe we wore that during "Still Would Stand All Time", I forget.)

When that morphed into the tailored look for D&P and , it was nice. The typhoon, the gangsta glam look, at times, really worked (more during '92, because some of the outfits for D&P looked cartoonish on band members). His outfit in "Sexy MF" with the coattails in front mimicked the jacket from Under The Cherry Moon with the buttons that went up and around his scoop neck - that was great. Even the "7" outfit was superior to most things in the Graffiti Bridge era. A year prior, a lot of the Batman stuff felt specific and interesting. But it went slovenly for GB.

The whole thing with his 3th eye glasses, and the thin afro.

Of the better days: Rave.

[Edited 3/4/19 8:43am]

The Rave blue suit looks like uncomfortable dutch oven torture suit.

Diamonds and Pearls - Love Symbol period. Around 1991-92. The typhoon worked at first, but by Love Symbol it was looking ridiculous. The butt cheek pants, gun microphone and other stuff.

Grafitti Bridge was close second for me. His look wasn't bad so much as it was lame. (i.e Thieves In The Temple music video)

Distant third is Lovesexy, a lot of the stage outfits are awesome and his hair looked great, but some of that stuff he wore in the tour handbook...

I can appreciate Prince pushing stylistic boundries with his fashion sense, but some O' those pictures don't even work for him.

[Edited 3/4/19 19:33pm]

maleeboo said:

Of all the eras, I cannot really look at The Rave unto trousers and mini dreds without feeling a little cringe. I love Prince , but he looked a bit like he was trying to be early Gwen stefan I and nope.

rave is up there but it's kinda grown on me because i think he knew how ridiculous he looked, the gb era will always be the main one for me, the sculpted five aclock shadown with the slim moustache left which accentuated his big upper lig and huge teeth, he looked wierd. there were many looks that were pretty bad though but we love him anyway.

skywalker said:

As much as I hate to say it, the lovesexy area. The clothes actually looked gaudy like costumes/props, rather than clothes somebody would actually wear. Don’t get me wrong a few of princes closer one point, but by and large everything was too much. Like more broadway than Uptown.

ya, the clothes were pretty wierd but the hair wasn't as bad as it would get in the gb era, he looked like a clown.

TheFman said:

The whole thing with his 3th eye glasses, and the thin afro.

Of the better days: Rave.

[Edited 3/4/19 8:43am]

a lot of people, my best friend included thought the afro was a wig.

skywalker said:

As much as I hate to say it, the lovesexy area. The clothes actually looked gaudy like costumes/props, rather than clothes somebody would actually wear. Don’t get me wrong a few of princes closer one point, but by and large everything was too much. Like more broadway than Uptown.

I have to agree.I have always loved that era,but some of those outfits are just really,really outrageous

SoulAlive said:

RJOrion said:

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World video...P looked like a heroin addicted matador/bull fighter... too thin, too much makeup, female figure skater clothes...

But to see the cloud bass again is worth that video alone.

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[Edited 3/5/19 13:44pm]

RJOrion said:

I think a lot of people really misunderstand the gun mic.

I never looked at it as Prince trying ot be hard or gangster. Quite the opposite really. I always took it as him saying "Music is my weapon"

His hair game since early 2001

The 3121 pixie cut was 100x worse than the Gold era one.

RJOrion said:

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World video...P looked like a heroin addicted matador/bull fighter... too thin, too much makeup, female figure skater clothes...

and that Liza Minneli hairdo

once again these kind of "negative threads" seems so popular, it's beyond me..


imho: what a very sad thread this is.. least this least that..??

come on motherf*ckers, show some love and positivity in stead..?


Opinions are ok, but shame.. this thread is sad...


Ok imo: I am not a fan discussing the least thing I like, some of u must be very bored since this is an issue to some of u..


Ok I am putting MY focus on the upcoming "Ultimate Rave 3 disk CD/DVD".

( go on and now hate me for that lol.... )

Ok, our "fan lifes" should be too short for threads like this nutty negativity... when I think of Prince I think of "big" musicianship all life long, he is our hero, with greatness nevermind the least this & that...


Ok, these "least fave discussions" are always popular, that's kind of weird imho....

SoulAlive said:

RJOrion said:

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World video...P looked like a heroin addicted matador/bull fighter... too thin, too much makeup, female figure skater clothes...

and that Liza Minneli hairdo

^ correction, the Minelli hairdo was Raspberry Beret in 85..

Prince being "outed" for going bald in 2010. They actually linked to a org post too.

[Edited 3/6/19 17:36pm]

RJOrion said:

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World video...P looked like a heroin addicted matador/bull fighter... too thin, too much makeup, female figure skater clothes...

Yeah, not a big fave for me either. I think it always just hurt my heart to see him so thin...