Jenny Lewis performs during Atlanta's Music Midtown 2015 at Piedmont Park on Sept. 18, 2015. (Robb D. Cohen, Invision/AP)

Jenny Lewis, Bill Murray and SXSW’s most spectacular weed-inspired oufit

My standard Sunday morning Instagram scroll elicited an audible “YAS QUEEN! YAS QUEEN! YAS QUEEN!” when Jenny Lewis appeared in a rainbow marijuana leaf western number on stage.

Known for her signature technicolor suiting on tour, the former Rilo Kiley frontwoman enlisted the embroidery expertise of Austin-based Kathie Sever for a custom creation to wear during two performances over the final weekend of South by Southwest. As the creative mind behind the classic chainstitch line Fort Lonesome, Sever hinted at the white satin-fringed design last week on the company’s Instagram page. Fort Lonesome was founded in 2000 and has since appeared on the likes of Ethan Hawke, Jimmy Kimmel, Richard Linklater, Matthew McConaughey and Bill Murray.



Lewis and Sever’s inspiration? Jenny Lewis’ top billing under Willie Nelson for the annual Luck Reunion — a full-day mini festival on his ranch just outside of Austin.

“We did the suits for her ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ tenth anniversary tour and then found out we were both going to be out at Willie’s for the event, so wanted to create something special in his honor,” Sever told The Cannabist on Sunday. “Since we had already worked with her, we had the pattern to design from, but the embroidery took over 40 hours.”

The suit’s big debut and Lewis’ set were sadly rained out and forced inside the property’s chapel for a much-smaller-than-planned acoustic set — before she jumped on stage with the High Style Icon himself to sing backup for the tented grand finale.

Dubbed with its own hashtag, Lewis took her “#weedrainbow” to a second stage at Stubb’s on Saturday (never mind the performance was part of an official Rachael Ray event). A once rumored May-December love interest, Jenny Lewis and Bill Murray are “just friends” — but Murray was front and center as Lewis crooned in her cannabis-leaf costume. The actor even has his own custom Armadillo embroidered Fort Lonesome and first met Lewis on her tour bus after an “Austin City Limits” show.



We’re also pretty sure she partakes. In an interview with Spin, Wavves shared that the singer brought special treats in-studio when recording vocals on their 2013 album, “I was kinda into Rilo Kiley and obviously The Wizard is just amazing. She also brought us cookies. Weed cookies.” Here, she talks weed with Janessa Slater on Sound Advice.

Shop: ftlonesome.com