Elvis Presley
Elvis Left the Building (wearing Rockmount)
On June 26, 1977, Elvis Presley played his last concert at Market Square Arena Happy Birthday Elvis 1/8/35.
When I first rediscovered Elvis wore Rockmount it inspired me to begin archiving these special sightings. Until then we had no idea how far our brand had reached. While in Dallas on business I watched an Elvis retrospective 25 years after his death and noticed he was wearing a burgundy check Western shirt in the movie Love Me Tender, 1956. He wore the shirt a lot and at first I noticed it had sawtooth pockets and the closer I watched I realized it was a Rockmount!
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In fact my father had saved a matching shirt when he came back from the army in 1950s. I retrieved it and saw that the burgundy windowpane check fabric was made by Dan River Mill. Decades later we collaborated to remake the shirt in the same fabric. It was the first instant sell out I produced. Later we remade another 2-tone floral embroidery from Loving U, in our current collection.
When I wrote my book on Western Shirts Graceland gave me permission to use the photograph from the movie in Indianapolis in front of a crowd of about 18,000. The King tragically passed away less than a month later at the age of 42. He's pictured in a vintage Rockmount check.
Regards,
Steve Weil CEO & Chief Creative Officer
