Elvis Presley leveraged his fame to score himself many dates. He was charming and generous with his girlfriends, and they were excited to be a part of his world of wealth and celebrity. Still, Elvis wasn’t always an easy partner. He had a number of expectations for his dates, and he grew frustrated if they didn’t adhere to them. Once, he gave his date the silent treatment because she dared to wear pants around him.

Elvis did not like it when his date wore pants

After returning to the United States from Germany, Elvis landed himself in hot water with his girlfriend, Anita Wood. She found letters from a young Priscilla Beaulieu, whom Elvis had met while in the army. Elvis denied he’d been unfaithful, which was not true. Not only had he pursued a relationship with Priscilla, but he was dating other people as well. One of them was Sandy Ferra, the teenage daughter of a Los Angeles club owner.

Ferra said one of Elvis’ friends would pick her up, and she would spend time with Elvis at his house. While she typically enjoyed these visits, one of their dates was incredibly uncomfortable.

“One time I wore pants, and Lamar [Fike] picked me up and didn’t say anything, we drove out to the house and I walked in, and Elvis was all dressed up, because he always got dressed up for our dates,” Ferra said in Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “So he said, ‘Hi, baby,’ and he kissed me on the cheek, and we sat down on the couch, and he did not speak to me for the next three or four hours. It seemed like an eternity.”

As Ferra would soon find out, Elvis did not like to see women in pants. He warned her against wearing them in front of him again.

“Then he kissed me good night, and he said, ‘Don’t ever wear pants again,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘Oooooh, I won’t.’ Cause he said he got all dressed up for me, and he expected me to get dressed up, too. So I always wore my prettiest party dresses from then on. No more pants.”

Elvis had the same reaction to another date years later

Years later, Elvis still didn’t like his dates to wear pants. After spending one night with Sheila Ryan, he took her shopping so that she could dress according to his tastes.

“I mean, I wasn’t appropriate, I always dressed in men’s trousers, not terribly feminine,” Ryan said. “So he had Suzy Creamcheese [the place to go for Vegas fashion] bring over a couple of racks of clothes and shoes and had this fashion show. I would go in and try something on, and if he liked it, he’d get it, and if he didn’t, he wouldn’t.”

Elvis told Ryan that if he was going to be seen with her, he wanted her to look a certain way.

“I was kind of like, ‘What’s the matter with my clothes?’ and he was very gentle in saying, ‘Nothing, they’re fine, but you’re my girl, you got to go into this place, and people will be looking, and I’d like you to look a certain way, is that okay?’ And, you know, I guess it was okay, kind of.”

He bought new wardrobes for girlfriends

Over the years, Elvis spent a fortune dressing the various women in his life. He frequently took Priscilla Presley to stores and had her spend hours trying on clothing. He exercised rigid control over her appearance.

“I was Elvis’ doll, his own living doll, to fashion as he pleased,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. 

Priscilla styled her hair, makeup, and clothing according to Elvis’ tastes.

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