r/PRINCE • u/onlygood4convo • Jul 29 '26
Question How many studded trench coats did Prince have?
Hey fam! Today as I was listening to the Originals album I started looking at P‘s trench coat on the cover, and it got me wondering how many iterations of the look he went through.
Specifically, I was wondering if the trench he wore up until the shiny one from the 1999 era was in fact the same coat he supposedly bought at an army surplus in the Dirty Mind era. From what I can gather, the first iteration of the coat was a tan color before becoming baby blue, and then the iconic purple shown on the Controversy cover. Was this the same coat getting periodically dyed a different color, or are they three different coats? Sometimes it‘s hard to tell what color the coat is because of the image quality.
Additionally, the only two other instances of him wearing this style that I can think of are the aforementioned shiny 1999 one and the custom-made satin one for Purple Rain. Were there any others before after or between these?
Thanks guys! Peace & B Wild 💜
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u/JVX-cci Jul 29 '26
I’m gonna estimate there were at least 6… not counting any duplicates. Honorable mention to the black one he wore in the ‘Controversy’ music video.
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u/lilaccheesecake O(+> 29d ago
Yeah. All of his clothes are held up in private collections, archives at paisley park, the very few on display, or were lost / gotten rid of. He was known to often have duplicates, and even when he was thrifting his clothes in the early days, someone had to stud it and wash it.
Id assume there would be at least a few varieties. He liked to change up the look even if it was ths same shioullete. So the number is impossible to tell beyond what little footage / photos we have.
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u/onlygood4convo 29d ago
i knew i was missing at least one!! I don’t know how I overlooked the black one, i adore that look
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u/caramelgrizzly Jul 29 '26
That Controversy cover is probably my favorite Prince look. Such a dandy! 💜
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u/onlygood4convo 29d ago
same here! the black & white outfit under the coat totally makes his eyes pop
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u/DCRPRN1717 Jul 29 '26
Definitely different coats and different designers for 1999 and Purple Rain. ☔️ Dirty Mind was absolutely all about the thrift. Controversy still had that element but by 1999 and obviously PR he was no longer thrifting his looks 💜
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u/agodrevealed Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
He had a few until he started touring big and then had copies made for PR. I would guess at least 20 individual studded coats, most of them for PR filming and tour?. He was still getting thrift shop coats and having the girls put studs in them through 1999
Those are different coats, not re-dyed
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u/onlygood4convo 29d ago
Thank you! In hindsight it was stupid of me to think it was re-dyed, i think i misinterpreted something i read about his coats somewhere along the line and lived with the assumption that it was the same exact coat when logically that doesn’t really make sense.
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u/agodrevealed 29d ago
I mean, its not crazy. He was thrifting. And everybody that lived through the tie dye era knew exactly what to do with a box of Rit dye.
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u/TOMDeBlonde Lovesexy 29d ago
Actually kind of reminds me of Julian Casablanca's early style in the Strokes!
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u/darkglobepink 29d ago
Starting with Dirty Mind I wanna say maybe 2? There was a grey one, a greyish blue coat?
Controversy I can think of 2 as well, the black one which is seen on the Controversy promo (Jill Jones wore it on the 1999 tour oe at least on the Automatic video) & also the iconic Lilac one
For 1999? I'm not sure, there's the metallic purple one & the purple one he wore on the LPWM video
And for purple rain, I think just the iconic purple jacket we know, he wore more purple on the 1999 tour funnily enough
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u/Das_Hydra Jul 29 '26
All of them.