Colonel Sanders Was So Attached To His Iconic Outfit, He Was Even Buried In It

Colonel Sanders is decidedly the face of KFC, and has been since the founding of the fried chicken chain. Unlike many of the most influential food mascots in history, Colonel Sanders (born Harland Sanders) wasn't just the mascot; he was the founder. An important feature of the Colonel Sanders persona is the iconic white suit and the western bow tie. In 1950, two years before the first KFC franchise officially opened, Colonel Sanders first donned the iconic outfit and was rarely seen in public without it again.

It's a bold choice for anyone to wear the same outfit every day, but with chicken to sell, Colonel Sanders stuck to his highly marketable persona until the end. So fused with his professional identity had Harland Sanders become that the man was actually buried in the very same outfit that defined his public image. Whether that was a request he himself had made or it was something others thought up for him isn't something publicly known, but the fact is, the man became a living archetype of the Southern gentleman, found it to his liking, and never let it go. 

There's a quote attributed to Colonel Sanders that goes: "There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there." He may not be actively selling chicken from the grave, but he's still playing the part, and the chicken is still flying off the shelves; even if KFC does show signs it's been struggling lately.

Nobody lives in a vacuum, no matter how bold their wardrobe may be, which is to say Colonel Sanders didn't invent the white suit. As for who did, that credit likely goes to George Bryan "Beau" Brummel, the English dandy who invented the suit as we know it back in the early 1800s. Brummel's suits were part of a wider rejection of a decadent age where men would often wear loud, white wigs and floral-patterned outfits. The suit was classy without being so very extra. The white suit wasn't Brummel's only (or even primary) form of clothing, but the color scheme can be traced back to him.

The white suit would go on to become associated with the South, which is very likely why Colonel Sanders took to it. When he opened the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in Salt Lake City, Utah, the name of the restaurant gave the impression that it served a Southern specialty. It's only fair to assume that the incorrigible salesman who was Colonel Sanders thought to use the white suit as a way to emphasize that fact to his would-be franchisees as he pitched his famous blend of 11 herbs and spices.

Many historical figures have worn the white suit to great effect, including Mark Twain, and the outfit has not lost much of its staying power since then. Most recently, the white suit has been associated with Diddy (before his trial, mind you) and the young Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones.