Beachwear

Rudi Gernreich|Westwood Knitting Mills

ca. 1965 · wool · Costume Institute

Never one to follow the crowd, Rudi Gernreich designed fashion that was shocking as well as ground breaking. Working predominately in knitwear, he later included vinyl and plastics. His designs promoted a "freeing" of the body as well as unified fashion. His "monokini" or topless bathing suit design of 1964 made headlines, bringing his fashions into the spotlight. Following this was a series of innovations, such as the "pubikini", the thong bathing suit, and the collection of "UNISEX" garments. As a designer, Gernreich consistently challenged the boundaries of fashion. An experimental design, the tan knit bathing suit with its multi-color fringe skirt is characteristic of the Youthquake movement of the nineteen-sixties. The overall silhouette creates an air of frivolity.

Artist

Rudi Gernreich|Westwood Knitting Mills

Date

ca. 1965

Medium

wool

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Barbara Jakobson, 1998