Editor’s note: Digging into the archives of pop culture history, “Remember When?” is a CNN Style series that takes a nostalgic look at iconic celebrity outfits from each era.
CNN
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Remember when Lionel Richie closed out the LA Olympics in 1984 wearing an all-over beaded jacket surrounded by the most amazing fireworks ever?
It was one of Richie’s first solo shows since leaving the funk and soul group the Commodores two years earlier. “I was still getting used to it,” he told The Associated Press in 2020. “I guess I’d done a couple of shows in Las Vegas to warm up, but I’d never done anything like this.” Surrounded by a dancing entourage dressed in white tracksuits and red cheerleader minidresses, he performed a memorable nine-minute rendition of “All Night Long” before an estimated 2.6 billion viewers. Fireworks lit up the sky as they circled the stage.
While Richie may be remembered for frequently donning more demure clothing now, particularly his American Idol-approved leather jacket and Anthony Thomas Melillo black T-shirt, he used to dress in bolder, or at least more flashy, attire. His memorable blue and silver beaded jacket that he wore to the 1984 Olympics was hip-length and featured silver piping around the collar and sleeves. Designed by the late Bill Frank Whitten, the striking jacket was paired with white pleated pants, a silver sequin shirt, and a matching beaded belt.
Whitten designed many of Elton John and Michael Jackson’s most famous stage costumes, including Jackson’s iconic one white glove and the crystal-encrusted socks he wore when he first moondanced to “Billie Jean” at a Motown concert in 1983. After a decade dominated by sensual velvets and silks, Whitten’s flair for crystals, rhinestones and high-shine materials initially seemed rebellious to many. “When I got into the business, the only guy wearing a beaded jacket was Liberace,” Whitten told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “Nobody had glamorous beaded clothes for men. Nobody.”
The pioneering garment is currently on display for the first time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a museum of music memorabilia in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of a new exhibit celebrating artists from the Class of 1984, from Tina Turner, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen to Lionel Richie.
The original may not belong to Richie, but he does own a spinoff of it. In a 2018 interview with Coveteur magazine, the global superstar opened up his closet to reveal a blue sequin bomber jacket with the words “All Night Long” emblazoned on the back. “It was inspired by the 1984 Olympic jacket,” he said. “Right around the time I released ‘All Night Long,’ it was the 1984 Olympics, and of course, you can’t beat those colors. I took that as inspiration to make a bomber jacket, and then to make it totally camp, I put ‘All Night Long’ on the back!”
Of all the glittering medals won at that year’s Olympics, it was Ritchie’s stellar performance at the closing ceremony that audiences will probably remember most: Standing on the glittering gold podium in his shiny beaded jacket, Ritchie was clearly a contender for gold, too.
