http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/lifestyle/20170715/nudie-cohn-original-rhinestone-cowboy

Nudie Cohn: The original rhinestone cowboy
By JAY POWELL jpowell@c-dh.net
Posted Jul 15, 2017 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 15, 2017 at 5:51 PM

Part of being a great entertainer is having a good look people won’t soon forget.

That’s the philosophy Nuta “Nudie Cohn” Kotlyarenko lived by, and what turned him into probably country music’s most famous fashion designer. If you’ve ever wondered who started the rhinestone suit craze that has become a fashionable staple worn by artists like Johnny Cash, Keith Richards and Gram Parsons, it all began with the Ukrainian seamster and his Hollywood studio.

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In a 1969 Rolling Stone interview, Cohn said, “My impression of an entertainer is, he should wear a flashy outfit to be fair to the public. He shouldn’t be wearing a sport coat like the people in the audience. The costume is the first impression and it should be flashy.”

Hank Williams famously rocked a custom white suit fitted with musical bars and notes. David Lee Roth had a custom-made Nudie Suit outfitted with Native American imagery. Each suit was a unique work of art tailored to the artist’s personality, and none of them were quiet to the eyes, or wallet. A custom Nudie Suit would run upwards of a few thousand dollars, and that’s in 1960s currency.

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Cool, I never knew that was a Nudie jacket.