This is Ethan Newton’s column.
I had a revelation a few years ago. It’s so rudimentary that I don’t know why it hasn’t happened before. Every year, every season, we create clothing history. As product designers, this is both our responsibility and a great opportunity.
There are eras of clothing design that enrapture my imagination, during which I will consume all the information I can find: lore and legends, catalogs, advertisements, every example of history layering to create a movement.
The fact that this movement was born in an industry very similar to the one we find ourselves in today makes us realize how important a role we can play in design history.
My father once told me that I was named after a character (John Wayne’s Civil War general Ethan Edwards) in the western film The Searchers. And I remember that name combined with many other early memories.
My father recited the opening salvo from Frankie Laine’s ‘Wanted Man’ in a theatrical manner that I still emulate. A Sunday afternoon Western with boots, holsters, and saddles mixing with the sound of your mother’s sewing machine whirring in the background. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry stand alongside the Sgt Pepper-era Beatles in my own zeitgeist. Western utilitarianism and 1960s household items.
Whether you realize it or not, over time you will realize how much of these things make up the structure of your design philosophy. These influences were so ingrained in me that I didn’t really recognize them until years later, when the clothes they inspired had already broken down and faded.
Nathan Turk
Let’s start with the story of Nathan Turk (above). Turk was a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant who brought his Eastern European Jewish heritage, Norwegian Rosemaling designs, and Swedish Kurbitz influences to the American West in the 1930s at his shop in North Hollywood.
He used the Cornely Chainstitch machine to give the rigor of early Western clothing a distinct Eastern European flavor, which came to represent Hollywood’s image of the American cowboy. When Sons of the Pioneers sang ‘Cool Water’ or when original cowboy Gene Autry took the stage, their Americana was deeply influenced by Nathan Turk’s Eastern European roots.
Nathan Turk walked to allow Nudie Cohn to run. It’s as if Tex Williams strode in for Elvis Presley to strut.
Nudie Cohn (above, left) took the singing cowboy aesthetic a step or two further. European chain stitch was interpreted with rhinestones and sequins, and florals seen decades ago at Tex Williams gave way to sequined cannabis leaves and naked ladies in Gram Parsons’ iconic white Nudie suit (above, right).
Elvis’ sequined jumpsuit was equally influenced by singer Spade Cooley’s wardrobe, and in much the same way that Elton John’s flamboyant stage presence was influenced by Elvis.
Manuel Cuevas, etc.
Manuel Cuevas continued the chain. As a Mexican master tailor working under Nudie, he was influenced by Eastern European folklore, giving him a truly Mexican perspective.
The traditional hand embroidery on charro suits and mariachi uniforms influenced the next generation of stage performers. That is, folk flowers combined with religious iconography, roses and crosses embodied in metallic threads.
The punchiness of the ’40s cowboy suit evolved into something more elegant and architectural through the influence of highly tailored Charo suits and Campesino clothing, with Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart (above, right) and Dwight Yoakam incorporating his work into their own styles.
When musician Orville Peck uses fringe and masks to create his own unique Western personality or designer Alessandro Michele brings sleek glamor to Gucci, Nathan Turk is the one to thank, whether they know it or not.
From Eastern Europe to North Hollywood to the back alleys of Harajuku (where the Bryceland store is now), these influences and cultures were mixed and matched, and at the end of it all there was me, an Australian with a father who dreamed of living the cowboy life and a mother who could still quilt and embroider far more intricately than I could.
As designers, we participate in creating the design zeitgeist of each era in which we live. For every iconic moment in clothing, there has been a designer or artisan who brings their point of view to life and shapes the world around them for generations to come. None of us can drive ourselves, but we all steer the course a little bit in our own direction.
Heavy branding and lazy design driven by novelty try to pull us in the wrong direction. It is our responsibility to design diligently and make this era an era worth reference for generations and generations to come.
