Beyond The Candelabra

Happy 4^th of July to one of Liberace’s most iconic and well-known costumes – his bedazzled red, white, and blue hot pants!

First purchased as a gag in the early 1970s, Liberace’s hot pants were originally intended as a “satirical” response to emerging trends in clothing and fashion that he believed were beginning to encroach on his territory.[1] “Young people had made what I used to wear look conventional,” he joked in his autobiography, “so when I stepped off the plane in red, white, and blue trousers I didn’t look much different from a lot of the kids in the discotheques.”[2]

Eager to remain the undisputed king of all things camp and kitsch, Liberace formally premiered his sequined hot pants to a sold-out audience in Melbourne, Australia on October 20^th, 1971.[3] Recounting the night in his autobiography, Liberace recalled that “there was no question about it, that hot pants outfit was certainly the campiest one I’d ever worn. I meant it to be! It had everything on it…a jacket hung with American Indian-type fringe…sequin-studded, knee-length sox, and the kind of two-toned oxfords that used to be spiffy back in the 30s. To top it off, I came on strutting like a majorette and twirling a baton. It should have lit up. Now, I think of it!”[4]  

Liberace’s hot pants would prove to be a smash hit with Aussie critics who praised them as a sincerely funny, campy, and unforgettable addition to Liberace’s usual stage show. “The great moment came soon after the interval [when] the glamorous and talented Liberace pranced on to the stage in a patriotic red-white-and-blue hot pants suit complete with baton,” The Melbourne Age’s Neil Mitchell reported. “For anybody else, it would have been a poor attempt at drag humor. But the crowd loved it and the star loved it even more.”[5] The Sydney Morning Herald’s Garry Shelley eagerly agreed. “Probably the fashion highlight of [Liberace’s show was] the moment when he disrobe[d] to reveal his latest stunning garment – a set of stars and stripes hot-pants with streamers for the shoulders.”[6]  

Liberace’s hot pants would also prove to be incredibly popular with his US fan base, and would go on to receive regular inclusion in his stage shows, as well as heavy rotation in his his PR and promotional material. In 1971, Liberace would even appear on an episode of The Dean Martin Show in his hot pants where he jokingly performed an ode to their charms with Martin and Art Carney. After retiring the costume for several years in the late 70s, Liberace would debut a new, slightly modified version of his hot pants during his final 1986 shows at Radio City Music Hall.

Today, Liberace’s hot pants remains one of his most well-loved and recognizable costumes and are frequently featured on Liberace greeting cards, book covers, post cards, t-shirts, and other mediums.

You can see Liberace’s hot pants in action in the 1973 documentary The World of Liberace which is currently free to watch on Tubi.

Have a fabulous 4th!

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[1] Liberace, Liberace: An Autobiography (Don Mills, Ontario: Longman Canada Limited, 1973), 195.

[2] Ibid, 194-5.

[3] Liberace World Tour Poster, 1971.

[4] Liberace, 195.

[5] Qtd in Ibid, 195.

[6] Garry Shelley, “Concert by Liberace,” The Sydney Morning Herald, November 1, 1971.