Cowboy Couture
Fashion designer Jerry Lee Atwood never dreamed his Western wear designs would eventually be seen and loved by people across the nation. His bold, colorful pieces are well recognized in the Western wear fashion industry, and this year, visitors from around the country will be able to experience his work in Indianapolis at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
Atwood grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, where he discovered his love for fashion in high school. He described himself as a punk rock kid and started going to thrift stores to find clothes no one else was wearing. He never would have described himself as a fashionable person or someone interested in fashion design, but he was cognizant of the way clothing made him feel and understood the story each piece told.
“It’s kind of like an armor,” Atwood says. “That was when I discovered that wearing clothing can affect how you feel and how you present yourself to the world, which is fashion.”
While he is known for it now, Atwood never got into Western wear until adulthood. Growing up, his parents were into Western American culture. They loved old country music, took the family on trips to Nashville, Tennessee, and often went to see variety shows at Opryland, a Nashville theme park.
“My parents got really into square dancing for a while, so they would drag me and my sister along, and I would just take a book or something to draw and sit in a corner and be like, ‘Oh God, this is terrible,’” Atwood says.
It wasn’t until 2001 that Atwood became interested in designing Western wear. At the time, he was employed at a local coffee shop, where he worked on hand-embroidery projects during his downtime. An acquaintance noticed his embroidery and gave him a book on the history of Western wear. After a while, Atwood loved looking through photos of people in their Western suits and reading their stories.
“It really struck a chord,” Atwood says. “I just thought it’d be really fun to make a Western shirt.”
After more than a decade of creating countless Western shirts and outfits, Atwood became well known as a Western wear designer. His most notable design was the Western shirt worn by Lil Nas X in the “Old Town Road” music video, which is likely the most viewed Western shirt in history, with more than 1.4 billion views. He also designed the suit Nikki Lane wore during her 2014 appearance on “Conan,” the shirts worn by the band Eagles of Death Metal during their encore at their return-to-Paris show, and in 2017, Post Malone’s suit for NBC’s “Elvis All-Star Tribute.”
Atwood’s favorite piece was the outfit he made for the “Stranger Things” Season 4 premiere, worn by David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper on the show. Atwood densely embroidered the Western suit with imagery from “Stranger Things,” including teasers for the new season. Already a fan of the series, he was excited to design the suit for Harbour.
“[Vogue and other magazines] were talking about how David Harbour stole the show at the Season 4 ‘Stranger Things’ premiere, which anytime I get mentioned in Vogue is always kind of like winning a championship ring or something,” Atwood says.
Even with so many well-crafted embroidered suits and high-profile clients, the best compliments Atwood receives are from people who recognize his style when they see his work. He recalls a Nashville-based photographer who described his style as conveying the most information with the fewest elements.
“I always try to make my designs bold enough that somebody could enjoy seeing it up close as much as they enjoy seeing it from 30 or 40 feet away,” Atwood says.
Starting in March 2026, Eiteljorg Museum visitors will be able to see Atwood’s work up close and appreciate his designs and embroidery. His exhibit, titled “Cowboy Couture: The Fashion of Jerry Lee Atwood,” will feature many of the Western wear pieces he has designed over the years. Highlights include a prairie dog-themed dress made for voice actress and Western swing singer Grey DeLisle, a magnolia suit designed for The Royal Hounds bassist Scott Hinds, and a maroon eagle wedding suit.
“I think everybody’s going to walk away from it with their own feeling and their own experience,” Atwood says. “But if there was one thing I’d want someone to take away, it’s that you can come from the middle of nowhere Indiana and make a living making art in a place like Indianapolis. You can make fashion here.”
“Cowboy Couture: The Fashion of Jerry Lee Atwood” opens March 28 at the Eiteljorg Museum and runs through Aug. 2. More information and tickets are available at eiteljorg.org, or visit the museum at 500 W. Washington St., Indianapolis.
