Nudie Cohn
| Nudie Cohn | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Nuta Kotlyarenko December 15, 1902 Kiev, Russian Empire |
| Died | May 9, 1984 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | Ukrainian American |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Known for | Nudie Suits |
| Labels | Nudie's Rodeo Tailors |
Nuta Kotlyarenko, known professionally as Nudie Cohn (December 15, 1902 – May 9, 1984), was a Ukrainian-born American tailor who designed decorative rhinestone-covered suits, known popularly as "Nudie Suits", and other elaborate outfits for some of the most famous celebrities of his era. He also became famous for his outrageous customized automobiles.
Kotlyarenko was born in Kiev on December 15, 1902, to a Ukrainian Jewish family. To escape the pogroms of Czarist Russia, his parents sent him at age 11, with his brother, Julius, to America. For a time he criss-crossed the country, working as a shoeshine boy and later a boxer, and hanging out, he later claimed, with the gangster Pretty Boy Floyd. While living in a boardinghouse in Minnesota he met Helen "Bobbie" Kruger, and married her in 1934. In the midst of the Great Depression the newlyweds moved to New York City and opened their first store, "Nudie's for the Ladies", specializing in custom-made undergarments for showgirls.
Cohn and Kruger relocated to California in the early 1940s, and began designing and manufacturing clothing in their garage. In 1947 Cohn persuaded a young, struggling country singer named Tex Williams to buy him a sewing machine with the proceeds of an auctioned horse. In exchange, Cohn made clothing for Williams. As their creations gained a following, the Cohns opened "Nudie's of Hollywood" on the corner of Victory and Vineland in North Hollywood, dealing exclusively in western wear, a style very much in fashion at the time.
Cohn's designs brought the already-flamboyant western style to a new level of ostentation with the liberal use of rhinestones and themed images in chain stitch embroidery. One of his early designs, in 1962, for singer Porter Wagoner, was a peach-colored suit featuring rhinestones, a covered wagon on the back, and wagon wheels on the legs. He offered the suit to Wagoner for free, confident that the popular performer (like Tex Williams) would serve as a billboard for his clothing line. His confidence proved justified and the business grew rapidly. In 1963 the Cohns relocated their business to a larger facility on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood and renamed it "Nudie's Rodeo Tailors".
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