Nudie Cohn - Rodeo Tailors T-Shirt

Nudie Cohn was a mandolin playing Jewish tailor from eastern Europe who was well into his fifties when rock 'n' roll was born. He played a vital role in rock history; his lavish "Nudie suits" became signature looks for Elvis Presley and Gram Parsons, and his designs graced the figures of music idols as diverse as John Lennon, Hank Williams and ZZ Top.

Nuta Kotlyarenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine; he began his clothiering career in New York, where he and his wife, Bobbie, opened Nudie's for the Ladies, outfitting showgirls. In the late '40s he headed west to open a shop in North Hollywood, Calif.; his opulent designs mounted rhinestone renditions of covered wagons and similarly bold images atop traditional cowboy attire. Nudie's Rodeo Tailors would become a staple of L.A. culture for decades.

His best-known designs were for Elvis (who wore the infamous $10,000 gold-lamé suit on the cover of his "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" LP) and Gram Parsons, for whom he created the notorious suit, bearing a pot leaf, pill bottles, naked temptresses and a crucifix, seen on the cover of the Flying Burrito Bros' "Gilded Palace of Sin" album.

Though he died in 1984, Nudie continues to exert a powerful influence on pop fashion and is an icon to the alternative-country movement.

Our Nudie's Rodeo Tailors T-shirt is fully licensed, endorsed and made from the softest, prewashed and shrunk cotton jersery. We faithfully reproduce the original article as tracked down by Worn Free from archive images.