The rodeo suit is making a comeback, thanks in no small part to Rusty Cut’s Judith Rothman-Pierce.

 

When Post Malone took the stage in Nashville as a part of something called the Bud Light Dive Bar Tour, he looked the part of a proper cowboy in a yellow suit adorned with barbed wire and snake appliques (albeit a cowboy with face tats and a grill). The look was a bit Alessandro Michele’s Gucci, a bit fashion-goes-west. But, really, it’s all Nudie. Named after their progenitor, the tailor Nudie Cohn, the most famous iterations of the Nudie suit involved ornate sequins and appeared on superstars like Gram Parsons, Elton John, Sonny & Cher.

In 1957, Elvis famously wore a Nudie-designed gold lame suit now valued at $10,000. It’s been laid to rest on display at Graceland, where it sparked something in designer Judith Rothman-Pierce, the 28-year-old founder of Rusty Cuts—and the designer behind Post Malone’s yellow Nudie suit. Over email with GQ, Rothman-Pierce explains it was the first Nudie suit she’d ever seen, but “I didn’t know what it was until much later. My friend Emily would always say she wanted a Nudie suit, but I literally just thought she wanted a skin-colored catsuit.”

Today, Rothman-Pierce’s knowledge of the Nudie suit approaches the encyclopedic. Rothman-Pierce began sewing at age 8, and since 2009 she’s slung Rhinestone Cowboy inspiration, appliqued vintage, and modern Nudie suits out of Los Angeles via her online shop.