Priscilla Presley Shares Hairstyle That Elvis Presley ‘Hated’ and How She Changed Her Look After Split

Priscilla Presley opened up about dressing and styling herself to suit Elvis Presley’s tastes — down to the way she did her hair — in her new memoir.

“Discovering who I was without Elvis was sometimes confusing, but it was also an adventure,” she wrote of life after she split from the famed musician in Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, published on Tuesday, September 23. “When I was a teenager, I adopted Elvis’ identity.”

She continued, “Now I could part my hair in the middle if I wanted to. Elvis had always hated hair parted in the middle, but now it was up to me.”

Priscilla, now 80, was only 14 years old when she first crossed paths with the rock icon, though their physical relationship didn’t start until they got married in May 1967, when she was 21.

The pair went on to welcome one daughter together, the late Lisa Marie Presley, in February 1968. By the time Lisa Marie turned 4, Priscilla was ready to forge her own path and filed for divorce from Elvis in 1972, which was finalized the following year.

Priscilla noted that while they were together, she did enjoy seeing Elvis’ eyes light up when she “wore something he loved,” adding that she would often put on a pair of heels since he thought they looked “sexy.”

After calling it quits, Priscilla said she developed a new sense of style, detailing how she tried out trends of that era while still putting on the occasional pair of pumps — and some flats.

“The black eye makeup of the 1960s was replaced by the more natural look of the 1970s. I even lightened my eyebrows like the model Twiggy, whose blonde elfin looks and huge eyes had made her world famous,” Priscilla continued, noting she dabbled in new cuts and hair colors, going from brunette to blonde to ginger.

Unlike before, when she steered away from denim jeans and jackets because Elvis “associated them with the poverty of his childhood,” Priscilla revealed she embraced the look.

“Now I wore classic styles, long flowy dresses, vivid colors, and feminine prints,” she continued, noting she found freedom in wearing “anything I wanted.”

“I was nearly 30 years old, and it was the first time I was able to experiment with clothing. I’d gone from wearing clothes my parents liked to wearing clothes Elvis liked,” Priscilla wrote. “Now the only one I had to please was me.”