Stage suits

The Beatles stage suits from the Helen Shapiro Tour 1963

These are the suits worn by The Beatles during the Shapiro tour and also for the cover of the Please Please Me album, The No.1 EP and The Beatles Hits EP.

The suits were sold by liveauctioneers last year. The estimated value was $150.000-$175.000. I don’t know how much they sold for. The suits are described like this: “The four suits have three buttons down the front, black velvet collar and cuffs, and red/crimson lining. Each inside jacket pocket inscribed with each Beatles full name and year”. Funny thing is that they look more brownish in colour on the record covers than the recent photos of the same suits from the auctioneers website. Angus McBean took the 1963 photos, maybe he used a coloured lense or something?

Lennon’s suit photographed in 1999

John Lennon’s suit was displayed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Arts back in 1999, on loan from Gotta Have It! Collectibles Inc. and the museum described it as “Brown wool with black velvet collar”.

Please Please Me – lightened a bit