“It was a rule of the game” Mayte Garcia explodes the myth of Prince’s wardrobe control, revealing the $300 million star also refused to wear short pants for her.

Prince — the $300-million global icon whose visual identity became part of pop culture itself — has long been accused of imposing rigid clothing restrictions on his first wife, Mayte Garcia. The accusation: that she was “not allowed” to wear short or revealing clothes because Prince controlled her image.

Garcia has clarified that story directly.

In her memoir, she explains that the wardrobe expectations were not a one-sided order. She calls it a “rule of the game” that both of them agreed to — a strategic choice to protect the mystique of their shared stage presence. She emphasized that Prince also did not wear short pants during that period. Both were constructing a consistent public aesthetic — a unified brand, not an asymmetric command.

Prince’s visual world was famously detailed, highly considered, and built piece by piece. Garcia recalls how magazine pages were torn and recombined into new designs, and how entire outfits were made inside Paisley Park — not for modesty as such, but for a cohesive silhouette and atmosphere. His meticulous approach included refusing to leave home unless his look was complete.

Garcia’s position reframes a narrative that had implied control. She insists the clothing choices were negotiated — and they were linked to the overall artistic arc of an era in which she was central: inspiring “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, touring alongside him, and performing within the New Power Generation’s stylized visual language.

Her explanation makes the point that these wardrobe choices were not a rule placed on one person by another — but a reciprocal decision to maintain an agreed-upon image.