World Famous Nudie's

Before his designs became so famous they had their own nickname–”Nudie suits”–, Cohn (pictured top of page) had worked as a shoe shiner and did other odd jobs traveling around the country. He’d been sent to America at the age 11 by his Ukranian parents, escaping anti-semitism in Czarist Russia but arriving penniless and parentless, searching for the American dream along with his brother. He later met his wife Helen “Bobbie” Kruger at a boarding house in Minnesota and moved to California in the midst of the Great Depression.

It was there that they opened their first store after designing and manufacturing clothing out of their garage. Nudie had persuaded a struggling country artist named Tex Williams to buy him a sewing machine in exchange for making costumes for the singer. His creations began getting noticed on the country music scene and the rest is history.

Above, his wife Bobbie poses in one of his designs next to a “Nudie mobile”, one of 18 vehicles he customized with dollar-studded dashboards, pistol door handles and other garish ornaments just like his bride.

Cohn was known to strut around town in his own flamboyant suits and everyone knew Nudie’s car when he rode past. He would blow his horn when he passed by and it would "moo and naan with cow and horse sounds..sure to always grab a smile & stare.