Made by Neon Cowboys
Light Up Nudie Inspired Suit
A rhinestone-western suit that lights, in the Nudie tradition
$7,300 USD
For costume designers and prop masters on a neon western or space western: western wear is our home turf. We build light-up boots, a Nudie-inspired light-up suit, LED fringe and custom hand props, with matched multiples for a whole saloon. Email info@neoncowboys.com with “Production inquiry” in the subject for a quote.
What should a neon western order from a light-up costume maker?
Start with what the camera sees first: boots, a suit, fringe and the hand props a cowboy touches. Light-up western wear is where we started. Neon Cowboys is a designer-led light-up fashion house founded in 2014 by Asia Hall, a computer science graduate and the daughter of couturier Kevan Hall. We build custom light-up wardrobe, hand props from scratch and light-up set pieces, plus matched multiples of our own western pieces in your colors.
For a principal, that might be our Nudie-inspired light-up suit or a one-off jacket built to the character. For a hand prop, a lit badge, buckle or lasso built to the script: we made a custom LED belt buckle for Doechii and a light-up suit for Machine Gun Kelly. For the room, fringe jackets and dresses set to one color across the whole saloon.
The light-up cowboy suit has film history
The neon cowboy is not new to the screen. In The Electric Horseman (1979), a Western comedy-drama directed by Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford plays Sonny Steele, a retired rodeo champion working as the spokesman for a breakfast cereal, opposite Jane Fonda (source: Wikipedia: The Electric Horseman). For a Las Vegas stage show he wears “a purple suit studded with tiny light bulbs,” and, as one critic put it, “The lights go down and he lights up” (source: Tony Mastroianni’s review, Cleveland State University archive). Nudie Cohn, the Ukrainian-American tailor known for rhinestone-covered “Nudie Suits,” designed that costume, and many of the film costumes worn by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were his designs (source: Wikipedia: Nudie Cohn).
Our Nudie-inspired light-up suit pays homage to that rodeo-tailor tradition, with the LEDs built into the suit. Country artists have worn us on the road too: Kacey Musgraves wore Neon Cowboys on tour, and we created branded merchandise and an activation with AEG and Live Nation at the Stagecoach country music festival.
Space westerns: frontier wardrobe with its own light
A space Western is science fiction that uses the themes, tropes or archetypes of Westerns, and space operas such as the Star Wars films took strong cues from Westerns (source: Wikipedia: Space Western). The look is frontier wardrobe with a light source in it: harnesses over work shirts, lit fringe, boots that glow on a dusty floor, a hand prop that powers up.
How you light the set changes how that wardrobe reads. The Mandalorian, a Star Wars series, was shot inside a curved, 20-foot-high, 270-degree LED video wall made of 1,326 screens. Against a traditional chroma-key screen, the character’s gleaming armor would have reflected back the colors meant to be cut out of the frame, and in an early test the light from the computer-generated environment moved with the performer as the camera tracked (source: StarWars.com). Sequins, rhinestones and our own LEDs react to your stage light in the same way, so talk to us about your camera and lighting plan before we build.
Made by Neon Cowboys
Out Past Midnight Boots
Transparent boots that glow in one color, lit with EL wire
$325 USD
Hero, stunt and background versions for a western
Break the western scenes down by distance from the lens:
| Scene | Piece | Version | Light behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saloon or honky-tonk close-up | Light-up Nudie-inspired suit | Hero | Two LED techniques, rechargeable |
| The boot shot walking in | Out Past Midnight boots | Hero | Solid, blink or flashing, one color per pair |
| Line dance or a crowded bar | LED fringe jackets and dresses | Background (BG) multiples | One color by remote across the room |
| Rodeo, brawl or chase | Stunt double of the principal’s costume | Stunt | A softer build, with simple lights or none |
| Frontier outpost in a space western | LED harnesses over work shirts; custom hand props | Hero and multiples | Programmable patterns, color by remote |
Tell us which scenes carry light and who is in them. We quote the hero pieces, the doubles and the background set together.
How many lit pieces does a saloon scene need?
Count from the camera out. Principals get hero pieces, plus a double for anyone with a stunt. Featured extras near the lens need matched pieces in good detail. The back of the room can run a simpler background set in one color. Add a spare or two that stay charged on the cart.
Matched ensembles are work we already do. For Missy Elliott we made her hat plus 20 matching hats for her dancers, and we’ve outfitted Beyoncé’s dancers on tour. Each of our fringe jackets and dresses is set by its own remote, so wardrobe can put the whole room in one color before the take.
Made by Neon Cowboys
LED Fringe Sequin Jacket
Western fringe that lights, color by wireless remote
$345 USD
How our pieces read on camera
Our boots light with EL wire in one color per pair, the same color as the boots, and our suits, jackets and harnesses use LEDs built into the piece. In a dark saloon or a desert night exterior, a lit piece can be the brightest thing in the frame, so plan it with your DP and gaffer.
Our pieces have been filmed for major brand campaigns: Apple used a Neon Cowboys LED cowboy hat to show off the iPhone 13’s Night mode low-light photography, and Google featured our Out Past Midnight boots in a Google Lens commercial and on six-story billboards. Every camera package and lighting setup is different, so talk to us about your camera and lighting plan before we build.
Request a production quote
Email info@neoncowboys.com with “Production inquiry” in the subject line, and send:
- Script pages or a mood board for every scene with light
- How many hero, stunt and background (BG) pieces you need, per character
- Cast sizes, including doubles and stand-ins
- Colors, and any color change inside a scene
- Your shoot date
- Your camera and lighting plan
Send us your shoot date and we will tell you plainly what fits. Every piece is sold to the production and quoted, so it stays with you for reshoots and pickups. For brand and agency work, see brand partnerships; for stage and touring work, see performers and production companies. See custom light-up props and LED wardrobe for film and TV, plus sci-fi movie props and light-up costumes and space film props.
What do customers say about the Out Past Midnight Boots?
The Out Past Midnight Boots holds a 4.8 out of 5 rating from 62 customer reviews. A few of them, unedited:
“Love love LOVE!! I’m an aspiring MYC artist that likes to light up the room and neon cowboys helps my fashion came stay at the TOP TIER!! One of a kind fashion and durable !! Won’t be my first nor last purchase HAHA I need these boots in every color!!!!!!”
— Gia G.
“I am OFFICIALLY in LOVE!!! These boots are everything!!! From the moment I saw them I knew I had to have them! I love dancing and walking around the house in them. They are even more comfortable than I thought they would be. I plan to get more colors. :)”
— Shantay R.
“I’m wearing these for the Renaissance concert next month and I’m excited!”
— Sade W.
Frequently asked questions
Do you make light-up western costumes for film?
Yes. We design and build custom light-up western wardrobe, hand props and set pieces, including our Nudie-inspired light-up suit, LED fringe and Out Past Midnight boots, plus multiples in your colors. Every job is quoted.
Can you make a light-up suit like the one in The Electric Horseman?
We build original light-up suits, including our Nudie-inspired light-up suit, and one-off pieces to your design. We do not copy another production’s costume.
Do you build props for space westerns?
Yes. Harnesses over work shirts, lit fringe, glowing boots and hand props built to the script, with programmable patterns and color by remote.
How do the boots light up?
They use EL wire and glow in one color per pair, the same color as the boots. One button cycles solid, blink and flashing, on 2 AA batteries per boot.
How long does a custom build take?
It depends on the piece and the count. Send us your shoot date and we will tell you plainly what fits.
Will the lights read on camera?
Google featured our Out Past Midnight boots in a Google Lens commercial, and Apple used one of our LED cowboy hats to show off iPhone 13 Night mode. Talk to us about your camera and lighting plan.
See also: custom light-up props and LED wardrobe for film and TV, sci-fi movie props and light-up costumes and space film props.
Sources: Wikipedia: The Electric Horseman, Tony Mastroianni’s review, Cleveland State University archive, Wikipedia: Nudie Cohn, Wikipedia: Space Western, StarWars.com.
The films, TV series, studios, designers and prop makers named here are industry references only. None is affiliated with Neon Cowboys or has worked with us.
Questions: info@neoncowboys.com.
