"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes."
-- Elvis Presley, in concert at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, August 1970
Some months ago, Rick Lenzi, a California mechanic and part-time Elvis impersonator, was invited to flex his pork chops on "Your Big Break," a spiffed-up, non-lip sync version of the '80s variety show, "Puttin' On the Hits." The program's contestants, who mimic their favorite singers, are aided in their metamorphoses by a small staff of professional costume designers.
Upon arriving in Burbank, Calif., for taping, Lenzi learned that his transformation would be presided over by a man named Bill Belew. At first, the name had merely a familiar ring. Then it clicked. "You're not the Bill Belew, are you?" Lenzi asked incredulously, almost reverently, when the two met.
"Yes, I am," Belew said.
Lenzi's jaw dropped -- he knew, as any diehard Elvis maven would, that Belew wasn't just any costume designer. He was, in fact, Elvis Presley's costume designer and personal fashion guru for nearly a decade. "I was in awe," Lenzi recalls.
