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Nudie Cohn
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Nudie Cohn (December 15 1902 – May 9 1984) was a Ukrainian-American tailor, known for designing rhinestone-covered suits and other elaborate outfits, to be worn by celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons and John Lennon.
was born in Kiev as Nuta Kotlyarenko and moved to New York as a child. Initially moving to California to become a boxer, he instead worked as an extra and a costume designer. He moved to Minnesota for a while, marrying in 1934.
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Encyclopedia
Nudie Cohn (December 15 1902 – May 9 1984) was a Ukrainian-American tailor, known for designing rhinestone-covered suits and other elaborate outfits, to be worn by celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons and John Lennon.
Early life
Cohn was born in Kiev as Nuta Kotlyarenko and moved to New York as a child. Initially moving to California to become a boxer, he instead worked as an extra and a costume designer. He moved to Minnesota for a while, marrying in 1934. Cohn and his wife Bobbie moved to New York City, where they opened their first store, Nudie's for the Ladies, which specialized in customized underwear for showgirls.
Opens own business
Nudie returned to California in 1947, where he talked bandleader Tex Williams into auctioning off a horse to purchase him a sewing machine. Opening a store at 5015 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, Nudie began designing Hollywood western wear, a style promoted in films from the prewar era. His designs notable for even greater than usual ostentatiousness, including extensive use of rhinestones and themed-appliques. One of his early designs, for singer Porter Wagoner, was a peach-colored suit featuring rhinestones, a covered wagon appliqué on the back, and wagon wheel piping on the legs. Nudie offered the suit to Wagoner for free, suspecting that having his suit worn by a popular singer would act, in effect, as a billboard for Nudie's designs. In the 1960s Nudie designer Manuel Cuevas was made head designer. Many of the designs featured Mexican Virgen de Guadalupe and other Mexican and Hispanic Southwestern design themes. Cohn eventually dubbed his business "Nudie's of Hollywood".
Publicity
Nudie Cohn relentlessly publicized himself. He is reported to have driven to poorer sections of town and distributed dollar bills with a sticker of his face over Washington's. "When you get sick of looking at me," he'd say, "just rip it off and spend it." Nudie also customized many vehicles for GM between 1950 and 1975 with typical Nudie icons, such as silver-dollar-studded dashboards, pistol door handles, and longhorn steer horns on the hood of the car. These were called "Nudie Mobiles", and have become valued collector's items. Most of them were white Pontiac Bonneville convertibles. A Bonneville convertible designed for country singer Webb Pierce can be found on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.
Celebrities
Many of Nudie Cohn's designs became signature suits for their wearers. Included among Nudie's most famous creations are Elvis Presley's $10,000 gold lamé suit, which the singer wore on the cover of his 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong album. Nudie also designed Hank Williams' white cowboy suit featuring musical notation on the sleeves and Gram Parsons' "Gilded Palace of Sin" suit, which featured pill bottles, pot leaves, naked women, and a huge cross. Many of Roy Rogers' film costumes were also commissioned from Nudie's of Hollywood. And, the band ZZ Top wore them and can be seen on the cover of their 1975 album Fandango! Also the costumes of the Flemish Country and Folk entertainer Bobbejaan Schoepen were commissioned from Nudie's. Porter Wagoner was said to have had some 60 or so Nudie suits in his wardrobe, which he became famous for wearing in performance.
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