Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Purple Comb-Overs: The Power of Personal Style

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

This week, we talk about some of the most interesting people throughout history – and the fact they all had a consistent personal style. Consistency is the key to branding, and these famous people all understood that. We’ll take a look at Julius Caesar, who shocked fellow Romans with the way he dressed and acted. We’ll examine the incredible popularity of Charlie Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” character that never changed throughout 25 films. And we’ll talk about celebrities who adopted a singular colour as their personal branding – like Prince and Johnny Cash. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. You may know me as the host of Under the Influence, but my passion is The Beatles. And I'm hosting a new podcast series called The Beetleology Interviews. I get to talk to people who worked with The Beatles and love The Beatles and people who write about The Beatles. And their stories are surprising and so very interesting. The Beetleology Interviews. Give it a listen today.

Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. On a cool cloudy January morning in 2022, Ian Indredson makes himself some eggs, plays with his dog, walks out the door of his waterfront home and disappears. The 54-year-old senior government spokesperson is a gifted writer. He lives a life of some privilege and comfort with his wife Gloria and their beloved Black Lab willow. So what happened to Ian? I'm veteran journalist, Laura Palmer. And this is Island Crime Season 7 Evaporated.

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Agassi said Becker's serve was something the game had never seen. It was explosive. No one had hit the ball with that much ferocity and power before. Agassi needed to figure out a way to cope with Becker's big serves. While other players spent additional hours in the gym trying to bulk up to match Becker's power, Agassi sat on his couch and watched hundreds of hours of tape on Becker's game. Then one day, he spotted something. Agassi noticed that Becker had a weird, consistent tick.

It was his tongue. Becker would go into his pre-service rocking motion, his usual routine, and just before he was about to toss the ball, he would stick his tongue out. It would either be right in the middle of his lip, or it would be in the left corner of his lip. So if he was serving in the deuce court and he stuck his tongue out in the middle of his lip, he was serving up the middle. But if he put his tongue to the side, he was going to serve out wide. It happened over and over again, consistently.

The hardest part for Agassi wasn't returning his serve. The hardest part was not letting Becker know he knew this. So Agassi had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the Becker knew he knew this. So Agassi had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match and, rather, choose the moments when he was going to use that information on a given point. Years later, Andre Agassi was having a beer with Boris Becker and said, By the way, did you know you used to give away your serves by the consistent

way you positioned your tongue? Boris nearly fell off his chair. Becker said he would go home after their matches and tell his wife, It's like he reads my mind. Of course, Agassi wasn't reading his mind. He was reading his tongue. In the world of marketing, one of the major elements in effective branding is consistency. While a brand can tell new stories in its advertising, the basics remain consistent – look, packaging, colors, etc.

That unique position in the marketplace is made up of the brand's basic promise and consistent imagery that sets it apart from its rivals. And if you want proof of that marketing playbook, look no further than to how some of the most memorable characters in history serve up their image. Julius Caesar was one of the earliest leaders to understand the concept of personal image and the power it possessed. To begin with, he was a master of self-promotion, writing his own military memoirs titled The Gallic Wars.

It was full of propaganda and applauded his own military prowess. Like many great brands, the Roman dictator had a memorable slogan, I came, I saw, I conquered. According to various sources, Julius Caesar was a tall, well-built man with dark eyes. He broke from tradition by wearing a loose-fitting senator's tunic tied with an orange belt. This baggy look was, by all reports, startling to Romans at the time. He also sported long wrist-length sleeves with fringes, also unorthodox. One of his ardent opponents once said,

beware the boy with the loose clothes, for one day he will mean the ruin of the Republic. Caesar also popularized another aspect of personal imagery that has endured over the centuries, specifically the comb-over. Apparently old Julius was prematurely balding and was self-conscious. So he combed his hair over and forward and wore a laurel wreath at every opportunity to further cover up his shiny dome. If you've ever seen Hollywood movies portraying ancient Rome, you'll notice that everyone around Caesar began wearing the same hairstyle, even if they weren't balding.

His followers were shameless in trying to please him. Caesar was the first warlord to insist his face be stamped onto Roman coins. It was the first time a living Roman had ever been given that honor. It was a message to the world at large that Caesar was the absolute ruler of Rome and his face was the absolute ruler of Rome and his face was the gold standard. He also sat atop a golden chair in the Senate, another example of his branding, and he had statues of himself erected in public temples.

The month in which he was born, Quintillus, was renamed Julius in his honor, which we now call July. He was a strong man who ruled by force and made a big show of his military in government. All told Julius Caesar created a cult of personality that has been the model for many dictators and wannabe dictators throughout history. dictators throughout history. Caesar's girlfriend Cleopatra was also acutely dialed into her own personal branding. She had a trademark hairstyle called a melon

cofure with tightly braided hair pulled into a bun at the back of her neck. She was very fond of pearls. She had them encrusted in her sandals, her clothing, and even in her tightly coiled hair. She also wore gold armbands around her biceps that were made to look like snakes. When I think of Cleopatra, I think mostly of her trademark

makeup. She darkened her eyebrows and wore golden flaked blue When I think of Cleopatra, I think mostly of her trademark makeup. She darkened her eyebrows and wore golden flaked blue eyeshadow from her lids to those brows and green on her lower lids. She also extended her black eyeliner to almost cat-like points. Together and apart, both Caesar and Cleopatra were striking examples of consistent, powerful personal branding. Don't go away. When we come back, a Hollywood character so recognizable, he never changed film to film for 22 years.

for 22 years. plays with his dog, walks out the door of his waterfront home and disappears. The 54-year-old senior government spokesperson is a gifted writer. He lives a life of some privilege and comfort with his wife, Gloria, and their beloved Black Lab willow. So what happened to Ian? I'm veteran journalist Laura Palmer, and this is Island Crime Season 7 Evaporated. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Jumping ahead 2,000 years, there was another person who was revered by millions and who

fashioned an absolutely unique look. So unique, even his silhouette was easily identified. Meet film star Charlie Chaplin. Born in England in 1889, Chaplin made his way to Hollywood in 1913, just as the film industry was emerging. Beginning in a 1915 film titled The Tramp, Chaplin took on a very specific persona. For that film, and for the next 22 years in 25 films, Chaplin's little tramp character would sport the same exact look. A small black derby hat, a

black coat button too tightly, black trousers that were too baggy, and gigantic size 14 shoes worn on the wrong feet. And he developed a quick wattle walk, often with a cane or an umbrella in hand. Chaplin also sported a small toothbrush mustache because he wanted to appear older, as he was only 24 at the time. Interestingly, he chose the tiny mustache for a very specific reason. He didn't want it to hide his facial expressions. The look of Chaplin's little tramp would become one of the best known, most beloved screen images in the world.

Chaplin said he had put the costume on almost willy-nilly one day while standing in a wardrobe department waiting for the rain to stop. But the moment he put it all on, he said he knew he had created something special. And by the time he walked out onto the stage, the tramp was fully formed. Gags and comedy ideas went racing through my mind, he said. The tramp character would come to symbolize class and social struggles, which Chaplin identified with. His father was absent, and his mother struggled to support the family financially.

She would dress Charlie and his brother up on Sundays and amble down the high street, pretending to be a class or two above their station in life. When his mother lost her job and could no longer afford to keep her sons, they were sent off to toil in dirty workhouses before they were nine years old. Those experiences would inform his films and the unique look of the Tramp. ["The Tramp"]

By 1918, Chaplin was Hollywood's biggest star. His little tramp was a classic misfit, cheeky, unlucky in love, and shunned by polite society. Audiences loved the way he took the air out of pomposity and loved the tramp's resilience in the face of adversity. Walt Disney once said that Chaplin's tramp was one of the inspirations for the character of Mickey Mouse, a little fellow trying to do his best. All of Charlie Chaplin's 25 Tramp films were in black and white and almost all were silent. Chaplin finally retired the Tramp character from Chaplin's estate to create an advertising campaign for its computers.

Even more than 60 years later, the image of the Tramp was still so recognizable, no footnote was required. General Patton is warmly welcomed at the White House by his commander-in-chief, President Truman. Patton is minus his famous pistols on this visit. He'll return to Germany soon. General George S. Patton was a colorful World War II leader, to say the least. He was both inspirational and profane, flamboyant and arrogant. To personify all these traits, Patton broke ranks and designed his own military uniform. He wore a highly polished

silver helmet, riding pants and high cavalry boots. He carried an ivory gripped silver-plated Colt 45 revolver on his right hip and an ivory grip Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum on his left. Patton even practiced a stern expression. He called it his war face. Patton's jeep sported a klaxon horn, so he could loudly announce his approach wherever he was going. And he always kept his pet bull terrier, Willie, by his side, who was named after William the Conqueror.

In 1944, when Patton's famous tank corps raced across Europe, Willie, his second in command, sat proudly beside Patton the entire way. Patton's military look had one purpose and one purpose only – to project the ultimate warrior. He personified ruthless drive, the will for victory, and the desire to destroy the enemy. Even the Nazis were in awe of his imagery. Patton really was the sartorial bad boy of World War II.

[♪ Music playing. Background music playing. Sometimes the unique element of a person's brand is not a full outfit like Charlie Chaplin, but rather one single item. Notoriously nearsighted, John Lennon had always worn glasses, but never in public. Then, in 1967, he took a break from the Beatles and acted in a movie called How I Won the War directed by Richard Lester, who had also directed A Hard Day's Night and Help. In the film Lennon played a character named Private Gripweed. For the role he was given round spectacles to wear. Those spectacles were standard issue in Britain distributed by the National

Health Service. They were nicknamed granny glasses because they were mostly worn by senior citizens. They couldn't have been more ordinary or old-fashioned but Lennon kept the glasses after the film was finished and wore them on the famous Sgt. Pepper album cover. Lennon lent his coolness to the granny glasses and they became all the rage. Look at almost any band from that era or photos from the summer of love on and everyone is wearing round granny glasses. It became Lenin's signature look and people still wear that look today.

Sometimes, the consistent element of a person's image is a singular item, like Lenin's glasses. And sometimes, glasses can be the vehicle of personal expression, but change constantly. When you conjure up an image of Elton John, what comes to mind first? It's probably one of the over 200,000 pairs of glasses Elton has owned over his career. Here's something I didn't know. He began wearing glasses when he was 13 to copy Buddy Hawley's signature look. Elton, then 13-year-old Reginald White, didn't need glasses for his sight. He just wanted to emulate his idol.

But after wearing them for 18 months, he said he couldn't see a thing without them. So the glasses became a fixture. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Being a piano player, Elton was stuck on a piano bench. He couldn't move around like a piano player, Elton was stuck on a piano bench. He couldn't move around like a guitar player, and it frustrated him. So to make the most out of a static position, Elton started to have fun by wearing outrageous costumes, dressed as Donald Duck or the Statue of Liberty, and matched those outfits with

flamboyant glasses. Over the years Elton's glasses became his absolute signature look. Since the 70s he has collaborated with British luxury eyewear company Cutler & Gross to create some spectacular specs. Elton's fixation with glasses happened just as the entire eyewear industry was changing. Lenses that had been made of thick glass were replaced with plastic lenses and the materials, shapes and color options exploded. That revolution in eyewear manufacturing allowed Elton to have some crazy glasses over the

years. One pair had windshield wipers on them. Another had a retractable awning. A foot-long pair spelled out Elton in flashing lights. But even when he stopped wearing overt costumes in 1986, the over-the-top specs stayed. Many pairs of his glasses have been auctioned off for charity, with one pair selling for $22,000 US. It came as no surprise that Elton launched his own line of eyewear in 2021.

He said the Elton John Eyewear line celebrated confidence, self-expression, and authenticity. Adding that, it's not just about the glasses, it's about changing the way people see themselves. Each pair has a temple silhouette of Elton's classic E trademark. Don't go away. When we come back, one of the most powerful women in fashion stays in vogue with her own consistent style. Here's a show that we recommend. On a cool, cloudy January morning in 2022, Ian Indredson makes himself some eggs, plays

with his dog, walks out the door of his waterfront home and disappears. The 54-year-old senior government spokesperson is a gifted writer. He lives a life of some privilege and comfort with his wife, Gloria, and their beloved Black Lab willow. So what happened to Ian? I'm veteran journalist Laura Palmer, and this is Island Crime Season 7 Evaporated. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Speaking of eyewear, Anna Wintour has a signature look.

Wintour has been the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine since 1988, a remarkable run. Born in England, her father, Charles Wintour, was the editor there of the Evening Standard. She began her career in fashion journalism in 1970 when Harper's Bazaar merged with the UK magazine Queen to become Harper's and Queen. After working for several other magazines, she became the editor of Vogue UK in 1986. She instituted so many changes there, the staff referred to it as a nuclear wind tour. One year later, she moved to New York to take over House and Garden magazine. She incorporated so much fashion into the publication,

it was nicknamed House and Garment. 10 months later, she became the editor of Vogue US. Anna Wind Tour has a signature style. To begin with, she sports a Pageboy Bob hairstyle, which has gone unchanged for decades. While visiting Australia recently, a hairdresser there trimmed her hair once and her fringe twice, all in one week. And her hair was blow-waved daily. That gives you an idea of how sharp, polished, and precise Anna Wintour's hairstyle is. She has a routine of rising at 5.30 a.m., playing tennis,

then has her hair and makeup done before arriving at her Vogue office by 7.30. She also wears big, black sunglasses sunglasses indoors and out. Wintour says the dark glasses prevent people from knowing what she's thinking at fashion shows. The hairstyle together with the glasses are Anna Wintour's iconic consistent style. Quite often, a famous person's branding consists of a single color. Even though Anna Wintour's big fashion no-no is to wear head-to-toe black, the late Johnny Cash always did. It was his signature look, and he rarely deviated from it. It was a kind of rebellion in the world of country music at the time,

where so many performers wore bright outlandish rhinestone outfits. His love of black was first inspired by laundry. Johnny's drummer once said the original reason Cash wore black was simple. Back then, when you left on tour, the longer you could wear the clothes you had on, the better it was. So if you wore black, it wouldn't show dirt as quickly as anything else. But over the years, the color black took on meaning for Johnny Cash. He said it became a symbol of the poor, the downtrodden, and the hopeless.

He eventually wrote a song to explain it, titled The Man in Black, where he sang these lyrics. Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day and tell the world that everything's okay, but I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back till things are brighter. I'm the man in black." Johnny Cash's daughter also said there was a more subtle reason

why her father wore the color. She said it reflected the sadness and the mythic dark night of the soul that he went through so many times. The color was all those things to Johnny Cash, and that's why the world knew him as the Man in Black. No discussion of powerful personal branding would be complete without mentioning his purple-ness, the late great Prince.

It's hard to know exactly when Prince started adopting the color purple, but it's safe to say it truly became his signature look with the release of the song and movie Purple Rain in 1984. It's also difficult to know why Prince chose purple as his defining color. Some say he chose it because it blurred the lines between the traditional male and female colors of blue and pink, and Prince did embrace androgyny.

More likely, it was because the color purple has been associated with royalty for thousands of years. Prince's clothing was inspired by 17th century monarchs with ruffled blouses, purple brocade, and lots of lace. And with a name like Prince, which was his given name, it only makes sense. Prince definitely understood the power of brand association. As the history of marketing has shown us,

when a brand succeeds in linking a positive feature in the mind of its target audience, it has won that audience. After his passing, the world paid tribute to him in shades of purple. The Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and even Niagara Falls were all lit up purple. In 2017, the Pantone Color Institute unveiled a new purple color to honor Prince. It's called Love Symbol Number 2. So many of the most enduring stars and historical figures all relied on consistency, especially when it came to their personal style. Charlie Chaplin's little tramp, so iconic, so unchanged for 22 years, made Chaplin the

most famous person on the planet. General Patton's look managed to inspire one army and intimidate another. On Jeopardy, the answer, the man in black, is an easy win by asking, who is Johnny Cash? It's also interesting to me that Anna Wintour, whose magazine tracks all the latest fashion trends, chooses to have a consistent personal look. The choices these people made not only set them apart, but would reverberate for decades, if not centuries. Both Caesar's comb-over, Boo, and Cleopatra's dramatic eyeliner live on to this day.

Prince left us nine years ago, yet his purple-ness still reigns, and John Lennon's granny glasses are still cool nearly 60 years later. There's also value in establishing a personal style. A pair of Lennon's glasses recently sold at auction for $90,000 U.S., and the revenue from Elton John's eyewear line now funds his AIDS foundation. There's a lot to be said for consistency. Just ask Andre Agassi, who won 10 out of the 14 times he played Boris Becker, when you're under the influence.

I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the TearStream mobile recording studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly, Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine, Research Angus Mary. Under the influence theme by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick, and James Atten-Gauden. Tunes provided by APM Music, and let's be social. Follow me at Terry O Influence. This podcast is powered by Acast. See you next week.

Fun fact. Hi, this is Taylor from Collingwood, Ontario. The movie The Devil Wears Prada was written by an ex-assistant of Anna Wintour. Wintour chose to attend the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. On a cool cloudy January morning in 2022, Ian Indredson makes himself some eggs, plays with his dog, walks out the door of his waterfront home, and disappears. The 54-year-old senior government spokesperson is a gifted writer. He lives a life of some privilege and comfort with his wife, Gloria, and their beloved Black Lab willow. So what happened to Ian? I'm veteran journalist Laura Palmer,

and this is Island Crime Season 7 Evaporated. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.