Kevin Marshall's America
I want to post pictures of myself in my Nudie Suit. Unfortunately, I don’t have one.
Howdy! Porter Wagoner wearing one of the more famous Nudie Suits.
Nudie Suits are those fantastic, rhinestone-covered suits you used to see worn by country-music (and some rock) stars in the 1950s and 1960s. They were worn by the likes of Roy Rogers, Porter Wagoner, and Elvis Presley.
They were named after, and designed, by Nudie Cohn. Nudie was born in Soviet Russia (where suit bedazzle you!) and emigrated to America with his family when he was a child. In the 1930s he moved to California, and after a failed attempt at a boxing career fell into the job of a costume designer.
Aware of the pun potential in his first name, Nudie moved with his wife to New York City and opened his own store called Nudies for Ladies, which specialized in stripper and showgirl underwear. After a few years, he closed the store and returned to California to design Western wear, with a focus on rhinestones and chainstitch embroidery. He gave a free suit to Country star Porter Wagoner, who wore the suit on tour and in posing for magazine pictures.
The rest, as they say, is history. And inconsequential to the point of this post, which is that I want a Nudie Suit. Seriously, these things were amazing.
Gram Parsons rocking my favorite Nudie Suit.
Now, I’m not a fashion guy by any stretch of the imagination. I know what to avoid wearing to embarrass myself in high society functions, but that’s about the extent of it. And like most men, I could give a crap about what jeans are “in season” or whatever.
A nudie suit, however, I would totally wear in public. Let people snicker or deride me for being an ironic hipster. I’d probably do the same thing if I didn’t think Nudie Suits were so damn cool.
And hey, maybe they can be brought back.
Lord knows country music could use it. Part of the reason why I dislike all modern country I hear (sorry ladies who listen to it and guys who pretend to like it because of those ladies) is that it’s lost that sense of adventure and style.
Retro Nudie: Jeff Tweedy of Wilco
I’m in that camp that thinks Country should be about living rough and hard while exploring the greater terrain of this nation. I like the country songs about the drunk cokehead who shot his wife and fled the law, the man convicted to hang for stealing a horse, and the guy on the trail looking up at the stars and ruminating on his self-imposed isolation. Then I want it dressed up in a fabulous Nudie suit, the perfect metaphor for America: dark, dreary, and ultimately self-destructive but done up in sparkling rhinestones.
For what it’s worth, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco gets it. He’s a fan of the suits and wore one when Wilco was featured as the cover story for Spin magazine. But that’s alt-country, and as much as I like a lot of what Wilco’s done, I feel like most of their music is just a tribute to better music (there’s a couple tracks on their last album which border on plagiarism of George Harrison’s solo work).
What we need is someone to ascend in the country world with the dark outlook and the good sense to keep it apolitical. It needs that songwriter that hypnotizes you with his outlandish attire, then hits you with an emotional sucker-punch to the gut followed by some beautiful crooning.
Folks, let’s bring back the Nudie Suits. Because I’ll happily wear the s*** out of it.
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20 Responses to Kevin Marshall in a Nudie Suit
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STALK ME
There’s a new challenge. Is there any aspiring young fashion designer in the Capital District who can create a Kevin Marshall custom-stitched Nudie suit? Let’s see… it has to have motifs from the Guild of Calamitous Intent, a couple of graphics from the world of mixed martial arts, as well as the requisite flowers, ligthning bolts, spread-winged eagles and maybe even the Boston spaceship.
Oh wait… the Boston spaceship is for MY Nudie suit.
Please dont.
That would be awesome. I have always wanted to do the johnny Cash thing and always wear black….If wore a Nudie, I’d look like a side show freak….it takes a special man to pull it off.
Kevin,
What local band plays that old dark country music??? You know, haven’t seen you out in quite some time. We’re at the Judge’s Inn Thursday’s stop by.
Big Frank and the Bargain Bingers
Go for it! I’ll even show up to take the photos!
Ohh man, I’m trying to find a picture of “The Kings of Wrestling,” Hall, Nash, and Jarrett when Hall and Nash wore matching Elvis jumpsuits because Hall was too out of shape for his own gear.
It was classic!
Here’s the best I could find:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fNtwSF8Hmj8/0.jpg
And where do you plan on wearing your nudie suit? LOL
Anywhere I want to, Mom! GOD
I wonder if B.R. Wallers (of The Rebel and Country Teasers) owns a Nudie Suit. I’d probably wear one, given the chance.
Also, aside from the lyrical content, something that sets the old country apart from the new stuff is that lo fi sound. Maybe it sounded really good at the time, but to modern ears it’s very lo fi and unpolished, which I’ll take over crisp and shiny any day.
The more I look at the picture of Porter Wagoner, you could do a tribute act if you only had the suit….maybe it’s the sideburns?
I think you should find a nudie suit and show off your special dance moves. That would be something to see. lol.
You know me, Kevin. I say go for it. Maybe it’s up to you to bring them back into style!
Have you ever seen the rest of the suits that Nudie made for the Flying Burrito Brothers? GP’s is sweet, sure, but Sneaky Pete Kleinow’s pullover with the pterodactyl on the chest crosses the line into mind-boggling . . . http://cfs11.tistory.com/image/16/tistory/2008/12/25/02/33/49527263d99bf
Sneeky Pete’s suit looks like an old lady sweater.
hahahaha…i think the nudie suit would be a great look for you, as long as you stay true to your original roots. you are, after all, stashu pandowski the polka king.
True Burrito Fact: Sneaky Pete was an animator for and wrote/performed the theme song for “Gumby.” Dude was freakin’ MAGIC. That’s why he got to wear the Old Lady Sweater Nudie Suit from Hell.
Can you get a purple one? I think you might look divine in purple.
Teri – I think you might be right.
These seem like a perfect hipster thing. Worn “ironically”, of course.
Hmmm, purple. Sounds right. I say go for it. Screw what’s in style, etc. Wear what you like. Too little of that going around. People need to be individuals again. Have you checked on-line?