Posts Tagged ‘Peggy Moffitt’

Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt and William Claxton at MOCA

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Iconic designer Rudi Gernreich was a collaborator. His model and muse Peggy Moffitt, and Moffitt’s late husband, the eminent photographer William Claxton, created memorable images that continue to resonate even 50 years after they were made. The talented trio regular fixtures on the L.A. art scene in the 1960s and 1970s and pushed boundaries regularly with the first topless swimsuit and “No-Bra” bra.

MOCA’s exhibition, The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton is on view at the Pacific Design Center through May 27, 2012.

Iconic Designer: Rudi Gernreich

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Rudi Gernreich fled his native Austria due to the Nazis and settled in Los Angeles, where he performed with the Lester Horton dance company in the mid-1940s. After moving into fabric and fashion design, Gernreich teamed with model Peggy Moffitt and photographer William Claxton, pushing the boundaries of the “futuristic” look, for more than three decades.

He is best known for creating the first topless swimsuit (as modeled by Moffitt) and for being the first to use vinyl and plastic in clothes. Though he died in 1985, Gernreich is getting the attention he deserved with museum curators and vintage collectors showing renewed interest in the designer.

Pictured is a 1960s Rudi Gernreich mod cornflower blue and white graphic checkerboard knit wool a-line dress. Visit 1stdibs for more information.