Sir Elton John has been honoured for his glittering music career and extensive charity work.
The 74-year-old was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by the Prince of Wales during a Windsor Castle investiture ceremony, wearing an uncharacteristically simple black suit.
The musician said: “I’ve had an amazing life, music has been my life, and I got this for music and for work for charity. I may not look as if I’m 100 per cent fit – and I’m not quite – but I’m still raring to go and I’ve got a lot more work to do as far as my life goes.
“So this is just a reminder that there’s more to do. More work to do for music, more work to do for charity and life is great – I’m so lucky.”
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Sir Elton has released a hit single in every decade since the 1970s – including Bennie And The Jets and I’m Still Standing – and has cemented his status as a bona fide style icon along the way.
He’s carved out a niche as the king of feathers, sequins and OTT stage outfits – recreated in great detail in the 2019 biopic of his life, Rocketman.
These are some of the star’s most iconic outfits from over the decades.
At the Dodger Stadium
For a 1975 concert at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium in California, Sir Elton performed in an entirely bedazzled Dodgers uniform. This was one of his many collaborations with designer Bob Mackie – who was responsible for some of Cher’s most glamorous outfits too.
In 2018, he told V Magazine: “Bob has said that his approach to dressing me for the stage was to “treat me like a male showgirl” – and that’s exactly what we did! Together, we had so many ideas. He couldn’t make the clothes fast enough. Bob made some fabulous outfits for me – feathers, sequins, glitter – totally outrageous one-offs. I look at them now and they make me howl with laughter. We had so much fun!”
The Dodgers ensemble has become one his most well-known outfits, particularly after it was recreated in Rocketman and Harry Styles wore it for Halloween in 2018.
Read: Iconic fashion items from the music world
In the film Tommy
Sir Elton played the Pinball Wizard the 1975 film Tommy, based on The Who’s rock opera album. He was dressed in a typical onstage outfit – lots of bright colours, sequins and a strange hat – with the unusual addition of Doc Martens made into stilts, so he towered over everyone else.
In a military-inspired costume
In the early 1980s, Sir Elton performed in various military-inspired looks amped up beyond belief, with huge epaulettes, plenty of badges and a hat balancing on his head.
The star was rarely seen without a pair of supersized statement glasses, often coloured and sequinned.
He told V Magazine: “I’m proud of the part I played in moving eyewear from function to fashion. My eyes needed the functionality, but ‘blowing up’ what could be done with frames and lenses gave me an exciting new way of expressing myself. They also allowed me to cover up the extreme shyness I needed to hide as a performer.”
At his 50th birthday party
Sir Elton has become known for his extravagant themed birthday parties, and his 50th in 1997 was no exception. He dressed in a white, feathered and sequinned Louis XIV outfit, complete with a voluminous curly wig and a miniature silver Spanish warship on top. His costume was so big that he couldn’t take a normal car to the venue – and had to arrive in the back of a van.
In Versace
The musician formed a close relationship with Gianni Versace in the 1990s, often wearing the designer’s clothes. He threw a party for the Elton John Aids Foundation at Versace’s Old Bond Street store in 1997, wearing an eye-catching pale blue silk suit, accessorised with a cross necklace and typically ’90s-style small sunglasses.
In glittering Gucci
While today we see Sir Elton in significantly fewer feathers than we did in the 1970s, he always stays true to his signature style. He regularly wears a pair of his famous glasses and a highly embellished jacket – as seen at the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
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On his farewell tour
In recent years, Sir Elton has become close with the Italian fashion house Gucci. Creative director Alessandro Michele has designed the singer’s outfits for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour – set to resume in 2022 – and you can expect a lot of logoed, bejewelled jackets. This outfit is reminiscent of the 1973 album cover for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, albeit with a whole lot more detail.
Are you an Elton John fan? What do you think of his style? Why not share your favourite Elton John look in the comments section below?
– With PA
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