Nudie Cohn

Nudie Cohn. Hollywood Tailor. , A Catchy Name, and Eye-Catching Clothes , A Ukrainian-born master tailor with a risque-sounding nickname made his reputation by dressing, and often overdressing, Hollywood's cowboys. , Nudie Cohn began life in the Tsarist city of Kiev; he ended it as the fabled costumer of "rhinestone cowboys," from Roy Rogers and Porter Wagoner to pop culture figures like Elvis Presley and Elton John. , Unlike most Hollywood performers, whose names were changed by studio moguls, Nuta Kotlyarenko's was changed at Ellis Island when he arrived at age 11. From then on, he was Nudie Cohn, and he drifted around the country, spending time with gangster Pretty Boy Floyd, shining shoes and doing some boxing. , By the early 1930s, he and his wife, Helen "Bobbie" Kruger, had opened a shop in New York. Their line of flashy G-strings catered to the ladies of burlesque. After burlesque couture went bust the two of them made their way to Los Angeles in 1939. , A Flash of Tailoring Genius , Making straightforward sportswear constrained Nudie, who decided that country western singers could use a bit of "flash." He appealed to singer Tex Williams, who gave Nudie the $150 he made from selling a horse. Nudie's Rodeo Tailors opened in a garage in North Hollywood. Nudie's cutting table was a ping-pong table. , In 1947, the store moved to Victory Boulevard and Vineland Avenue. Nudie's garments soon became standouts, lavishly ornamented with rhinestones and embroidery. Porter Wagoner's shirt bore a covered wagon appliqué on the back. Nudie gave it to Wagoner, who became a walking, singing advertisement for Nudie's clothes. , His gift for publicity was as great as his gift for tailoring. He drove a customized Pontiac Bonneville convertible tricked out with silver dollars, steer horns, and a variety of shooting irons. , Beyond country western and cowboy stars, Nudie created the illuminated ensemble that Robert Redford wore in the 1979 adventure-romance, The Electric Horseman. Some of Nudie's most iconic designs were not strictly in the John Wayne mold. Elvis Presley wore his $10,000 gold lamé suit, while rocker Gram Parsons wore the infamous Nudie suit adorned with marijuana leaves, pill bottles, and naked women. , A Famous Sewing Machine Falls Silent , Business was good, and in 1963, the Cohns moved to a 6,000-square-foot store near the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia Boulevards. Everyone knew when Nudie was there because he parked his "Nudie Mobile," in front of the store near a huge plastic Palomino. , Nudie died in 1984 at the age of 81. The man who made the stars sparkle was buried in a dazzlingly embroidered shirt with a cowboy hat below his crossed arms. His eulogy was given by Dale Evans. , His widow ran the store until it closed in 1994. She died in 2006, at age 92. That plastic Palomino is now stabled in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, along with one of Nudie's original sewing machines.