The Country Suit That Could Introduce A Singer
A Jacket That Spoke Before The First Note: Picture Porter Wagoner walking onstage in a jacket embroidered with wagon wheels. The rhinestones catch the light before he reaches the microphone. From the back of the room, you might see only the flash. Up close, the wheels give away the joke: the singer is wearing a picture of his own name. That was the appeal of a Nudie suit, named for North Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohn. His shop, Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors, made brightly colored Western stagewear for country musicians. The stones drew the eye, but the pictures stitched into the cloth gave fans something to remember about the person wearing it.