The late and great artist, Prince corresponded his album covers and tours to be a whole cohesive art piece by using styling as a tool for the visual experience of each album.

It’s common for artists to launch album campaigns as whole artistic pieces and to consider how the album will translate on stage as well as through speakers. The visual element of an album, especially the outfit design, becomes a necessary part of the album’s tour and means to promote album. This is basic marketing and works effectively in the music industry because it relies on the power of association. Prince, of course, was no exception to this. Even when performing songs from previous albums, his look was always in accordance with the period it was produced, whether it was a choice of colour or garment.   

While it’s not new to associate a tour’s wardrobe with the visuals of an album, Prince would normally go one step further in that idea, always having a specific and organised look for each album, further linking his public appearances to his music on a visual level. David Bowie was also a pioneer when it came to this promotion technique; however, his looks tended to vary as he adopted new personas, as opposed to Prince whose styles corresponded with particular albums.

Purple Rain 

Let us start with the most iconic outfit, the Purple Rain new-romantic purple suit, matched cohesively with a jabot to complete this look. Different variations of this look were altered through time on different tours to keep it current but relevant. The album was released in 1984, when new-romanticism was already a fashion trend at the time. It was first introduced in 1979 by bands such as Visage, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet and has since become an iconic part of early-80s pop culture. Even though not completely revolutionary, this outfit is still arguably Prince’s most remembered look, but is this because of the association with his most famous song?

Dirty Mind 

Even though Purple Rain was Prince’s 6th album, his silhouette has been consistent throughout his career; big hair and emphasised shoulders, resulting in an asymmetric and triangle-like silhouette. It is worth mentioning that Prince was only 5’2 tall and adopting this style helped in elongating his body in photographs. The notorious high-waisted trousers with flared bottoms, present in many of his looks, visually extended the length of his legs as well as concealed his high heels. Such trousers in combination with cropped jackets shortened the torso and made the arms seem longer. 

Prince’s cover for the Dirty Mind album (1980), is a clever example of his play with proportion. The half body portrait of him in a leather jacket with padded shoulders, bulks out the top half of his body and adds proportion. In addition to this, his legs have been cropped out, leaving no possible way to guess his height.

Parade 

Prince’s look is often said to be androgynous, however in the context of his work this seems to be more like a fallback term for his aesthetic, as there are no images or album covers which visibly question his gender. The 1986 cover for Parade features him in a cropped waistcoat, which was later worn during the album’s tour, and it seems like that particular look was intentionally pushing for a more feminine image. There was, however, a conscious effort in keeping his look borderline-‘appropriate’ for the more puritanical members of the audience, which was achieved with his trademark facial hair, on top of his slight but muscular physique. Having to consider a more conservative opinion was an issue largely present in the 80s and up until the Parade album cover, all of Prince’s looks were still on the cusp of hetero-normative subcultures and trends.

Lovesexy 

Two albums and two years later (1988), the Lovesexy cover (his 10th studio album) rebirthed Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, it showed Prince, naked, surrounded by giant flowers, in a reclining, effeminate posture, covering his groin and chest . This cover was one of his most radical gestures in terms of an image of male sexuality and caused major disputes with some record shops, resulting in many refusing to stock such a controversial image. Produced, of course, with marketing and fan-service in mind as well as a more sophisticated discussion on gender, the album artwork caused a stir, which was a dangerous yet successful promotion technique.

Diamonds and Pearls 

However, Prince was more than aware that controversy would only push his work so far. Three years after (1991), Prince released Diamonds and Pearls, which had a more formal style showing an image of Prince and a woman clasping his chest, produced with the consideration with the fact that his sexualised image was to a large extent, targeted at women.

This particular album signified a shift from a variety of studded sparkling jackets and unconventional menswear tailoring, to a more conventional, masculine character. Diamonds and Pearls was produced in the early 90s along with the emergence of such artists as MC hammer, Vanilla Ice, and Public Enemy and when hip hop was experiencing its ‘Golden Age’.

Whilst still following the music trends, Prince had to correspond with a visual image that was distinctly him, but also genre-appropriate. Baring in mind the mentality associated with hip-hop, especially so in the early 90s, the decision to portray Prince with a woman can be seen as a tactic to appeal to the male audience.

Musicology 

Between 1991 and 2004 Prince mostly released instrumental albums which did not feature him on their covers, and were neither followed by tours. Then, Musicology came out in 2004 and presented a completely new Prince. Even though there were no stylistic themes to the album’s imagery, the outfits on the tour that followed were strongly influenced by American gangster style clothes. Very similar to the suits worn in the Zoot Suit Riots in LA in the 1970s; they consisted of block colours, high-waisted pleated trousers, long coats and trilby hats.

Planet Earth 

More albums such as The Chocolate Invasion (2004), The Slaughterhouse (2004), and then 3121 (2006) were released in the next few years, but it wasn’t until the release of Planet Earth in 2007 that he held an album tour. It only consisted of 21 nights in London, but more importantly it featured Prince back on the album cover again. This time, he stood over the Earth in a red silk shirt and black corset. Unlike previous album tours however, there was no definitive theme to the tour outfits – it was much more of a celebration of the previous images of Prince; showcasing a variety of looks during this extended stay at the O2 Arena.

Art Official Age 

After that, there were no tours that followed the release of an album. However, he did release MPL Sound (2009), 20Ten (2010), PlectrumElectrum (2014), and finally Art Official Age (2014), all of which represented a more futuristic aesthetic. The cover of Art Official Age was the epitome of Afro Futurism, showing Prince in a golden gilet, sand turtle-neck and triple-lensed sunglasses. This was his final and 37th full-length studio album.

These examples of the power of association when it comes to promoting an artist are key. Recent artists such as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and M.I.A have used similar techniques to attach certain visual or political anchors to their songs and albums. Prince made himself appeal to such a broad audience by promoting his sexuality as a man, but in completely different ways depending on the gender that was taking it in. To be able to successfully portray yourself both as a masculine character, but also effeminate and sensitive means that you have both genders relating to some part of your personality. 

 By using styling as a tool to further his art, instead of just “a look”, Prince was able to re-characterise himself again and again, expanding his appeal and broadening his audience each time.