The author of "Ballerina: Sex, Scandal, and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Perfection" (2012), Kelly traces the history of the band's concerted interest in honing their look. During a 1969 interview, John Lennon addressed this aspect of the Fabs' legacy, remarking that "I was ashamed to go on the Continent and say I was British before we made it. The Beatles have tried to change Britain's image. We changed the hairstyles and clothes of the world, including America — they were a very square and sorry lot when we went over." For his part, Ringo Starr adored wearing "colorful clothes," adding that "because we did, it allowed a lot of other people to do the same."
In "Fashioning the Beatles," Kelly documents key shifts in the Beatles' appearance, from their leather-clad Hamburg days through their heady embrace of psychedelia during the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" era. As their music revealed one monumental innovation after another, so too did their look, which not only expressed their individual senses of identity, but also demonstrated their collective interest in serving as touchstones for their generation. "I think we gave some sort of freedom to the world," Paul McCartney has observed. "I meet a lot of people now who say the Beatles freed them up."
