Hallock Hill

Wilco and the Nudie Suits

I’ve been thinking a lot about Nudie suits lately. I’m sure it has something to do with the Gram Parsons phase I am in.

G.P.’s was incredible—marijuana leaves, poppies, etc., etc. You’ll have to read about all the iconography for yourself.

It begs the question, why is Jeff Tweedy, all of Wilco, in Nudie suits of late.

I don’t know. But Rolling Stone got this out of Nels Cline in their interview with him after the 50th Anniversary of the Jazzmaster:

On the Nudie Suits:

Well, it was all Jeff’s Tweedy’s idea, certainly, and Jeff bought them for the band. So I asked if they had a Day of the Dead style suit — with a skull and cross bones. And they said, “Well, yeah. Look at the jpeg.” So I picked that one and I asked for angels on the back shoulders, which they added.

How long did the process take?

It was kind of a rushed job. The idea was born three months before Lollapalooza and it takes at least two months to get the suit, and they had to make not only enough for the whole band with different designs and different colors, but Jeff also ordered jackets for the Total Pros, our horn section. I think he just wanted to show to be very special for the local audience, for the Lollapalooza audience. Something for the local fans. And then we did wear them again at Tanglewood this year.

They’re actually strangely comfortable to wear. It’s hard for me to wear a jacket and rock out. I don’t do it normally. But certainly in the service of the nudie suit glamour, one must suffer for fashion. I just kept looking around at everybody going, ‘“Damn! They look good!”

When you walked on stage at Lollapalooza, did you notice the crowd digging on the suits?

People freaked out. You know, they’re made to look good up close and far away, glittering the whole time. Jeff’s suit is the red one with the Korean Cat of Prosperity that’s in all the sushi bars, the waving cat. I mean, that alone as an idea is so marvelous to me. John [Stirratt] had the nautical one with the short-waist jacket, a-la Flying Burrito Brothers. Mike [Jorgenson] with his green one with the owls all over it and the phases of the moon going down the legs. Oh, man! They really mind-blowing. And they look so lovely under the lights. I felt fancy. It fit perfectly too.

Now, if you want to know more about Nudie Cohn and his creations, look for Nudie here. Nudie died in 1984, and the family seems to have closed shop. So where does one get a Nudie now?