Devaughn

- Part 1 - Prince’s Sign o’ the Times customized denim jacket (worn primarily 1987; gifted around the late 1980s–1990; recovered into the Paisley Park archive by 2016–2017 and finally displayed there on August 31 in 2018). This is the heavily customized blue denim jacket associated with Prince’s Sign o’ the Times era—the oversized piece covered in safety-pin fringe, metal chains, fabric patchwork, graphic appliqués, orange buttons, and other DIY embellishments that became a signature visual element of the period. It appears in the 1987 concert film and live performances, and Paisley Park has publicly identified the version on display as “Prince’s Sign O’ the Times jacket.” Creation and the period Prince wore it (1987): The Sign o’ the Times double album was released on March 31, 1987 (March 30 in the UK). The accompanying visual language—peach and black, denim, fringe, and customized utilitarian pieces—defined the era. The jacket itself was worn by Prince during the 1987 Sign o’ the Times Tour (which ran through Europe in May–June 1987 and included filming at Paisley Park) and in the concert film Sign o’ the Times (premiered October 29, 1987 in Detroit; wide U.S. release November 20, 1987). A documented public appearance was the MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 1987, at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. Prince performed “Sign o’ the Times” and “Play in the Sunshine” that night (partly lip-synced to a backing track with live vocals and guitar). Paisley Park’s own later posts reference him wearing the jacket in connection with that VMA performance and the broader 1987 period. Contemporary and later descriptions place the jacket’s stage use across the 1987 tour and film window rather than a single isolated night. The gift to Tempestt Bledsoe (late 1980s, confirmed in her possession by 1990) Tempestt Bledsoe played Vanessa Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984–1992). Multiple independent accounts from Prince fan communities and contemporary magazine recollections state that Prince gave her the jacket. The most detailed firsthand anecdote comes from a prince.org poster who met Bledsoe in 1990 (via her first cousin, who was the poster’s college roommate). According to that account, she was wearing the jacket when they met and said Prince had given it to her because he was a fan of the show. She reportedly wore it for two or three years afterward. Other recollections circulating at the time (including claims in fan magazines such as Right On or Black Beat) suggested Bill Cosby obtained it from Prince as a birthday gift for her, or that Prince sent it after being unable to visit the Cosby Show set while on tour. X/Twitter posts over the years have repeated versions of the story, including that she wore it on the show. The proof was seen in SE04EO14 ‘Bookworm’. These accounts are anecdotal rather than documented in contemporary mainstream press or official estate statements, but they are consistent across independent fan recollections from the period and the 1990 meeting. The jacket left Prince’s active wardrobe and entered Bledsoe’s possession sometime after its 1987 stage use and by the time of the 1990 encounter. Recovery by Paisley Park and current location #PrinceOnThisDay