Elvis Jesus exploded into the fashion world in 1997 taking a Rock’n’Roll ‘live-fast die-hard’ approach to the trends, fashions and style of the time. It introduced chaos, glamour and philosophy in to the industry, almost instantly developing a world-wide sub culture of dedicated fans; these fans had been demanding something fresh, glitzy and risqué – Elvis Jesus’ glittering launch exceeded these demands in a high-octane style.
The name Elvis Jesus comes from two of history’s most iconic figures – Elvis Presley and Jesus of Nazareth. The two figures appear frequently throughout the designs, often in unlikely and sometimes controversial ways. A good example of this can be found in one of their T-Shirts from their Autumn/Winter 2009 collection. The T-shirt is called ‘Pulp’ and features the Elvis and Jesus characters wearing suits and holding pistols, like the famous scene from Pulp Fiction involving John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson, just as they are finishing up in the apartment scene at the beginning of the movie. Another example is from the same collection. It features Elvis and Jesus recreating the iconic poster from the 1990 movie ‘Goodfellas’. This poster features the tagline ‘Godfellas’.
Kinky Friedman is another contribution to the inspiration with his book ‘Elvis, Jesus and Me!’ – A cult favourite released in 1993. Glimpses and traces of Friedman’s no-holds-barred, larger-than-life attitude and personality are prevalent throughout the Elvis Jesus collections. Elvis Jesus not only celebrates the counter-culture, but actively embraces and, in many respects, redefines it. This isn’t a brand for people that follow trends – this is for people that look upon trends with a certain amount of disdain, and believe that they just do not need to follow them. They do not need to, simply because they are already above and beyond anything any popular trend could do for them.
Elvis Jesus takes pride in pushing its great styles and designs to the boundaries of what is predicted, expected or offered elsewhere. This is a Live-Fast, Die-Hard brand with a massive following of counter-culture fans, fans who live for the excitement that a new Elvis Jesus collection presents them with, and embraces it. You wear an EJ item just as much as it wears you – you both contribute to each other, altering the way things are perceived and your interactions with and around other people.
EJ followers include the elite of the European and United Kingdom fashion press, including Vogue, iD, Tank, Intersection and Sportswear International. Many celebrities are also known to be disciples of EJ clothing.
Where to buy:
Elvis Jesus operate a strict distribution policy so find their products can often be a little tricky. They tend to favour specialised, independent stores over the faceless chain stores (and good on them for it!), so buying online is often difficult.
United States
SSense.com
Style Rocket
United Kingdom
Sa-kis.co.uk (Ships internationally)
Yakuza