Nudie Suits – Nostalgia Central

Nudie’s Rodeo Tailor on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles was an unusual place for a bunch of hippies to go shopping in 1969.

Started by Ukrainian-born Nudie Cohn (real name Nuta Kotlyarenko) back in the days of Roy Rogers, Nudie’s specialised in extravagantly decorative sequinned and rhinestone-covered suits of the kind that only the most old-fashioned Grand Ol’ Opry stars such as Hank Snow were still wearing, which became known popularly as “Nudie Suits”.

Many of Cohn’s designs became signature looks for their owners.

Among his most famous creations was Elvis Presley‘s $10,000 gold lamé suit worn on the cover of his 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong album.

Cohn created Hank Williams’ white cowboy suit with musical notations on the sleeves, and Gram Parsons‘ infamous suit for the cover of The Flying Burrito Brothers‘ 1969 album The Gilded Palace of Sin, featuring pills, poppies, marijuana leaves, naked women, and a huge cross.

Gram had a hard time explaining the sequins and rhinestones to the press. Later he joked, “We’re wearing them because they’re bulletproof.”

Parsons’ original marijuana-emblazoned Nudie jacket is now on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

Nudie designed the iconic costume Robert Redford wore in the 1979 film Electric Horseman, which the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City exhibited.

He also designed Jimmy Page’s famous black colored Dragon suit worn at Led Zeppelin‘s Earl’s Court shows in 1975.

Other famous customers included John Lennon, John Wayne, David Cassidy, Gene Autry, George Jones, Cher, Ronald Reagan, Elton John, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Michael Landon, Glen Campbell, Michael Nesmith, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, and numerous musical groups, notably America and Chicago.

ZZ Top band members Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill sported Nudie suits on the cover photo of their 1975 album Fandango!.

Cohn was also famous for his garishly decorated automobiles. Between 1950 and 1975, he customised 18 vehicles (mostly white Pontiac Bonneville convertibles) with silver dollar-studded dashboards, pistol door handles and gearshifts, extended rear bumpers, and enormous Longhorn steer-horn hood ornaments.

They were nicknamed “Nudie Mobiles”, and the nine surviving cars have become valued collector’s items.

Nudie Cohn died on 9 May 1984 at the age of 81.