“Fashion will go out of fashion.”—Rudi Gernreich
In the 1960s and 70s, a fashion designer, a model and a photographer dominated the Los Angeles art scene, partnering with friends and other artists, and shaping the future of pop, minimalist and performance art. So it’s only fitting that the exhibition featuring this influential trio, The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernriech, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton, was also a collective effort. Presented at the MOCA/Pacific Design Center satellite (and ending today), this remarkable show is the result of united efforts by curator, fashion historian and Decades founder Cameron Silver; coordinators Ethel Seno and Jhordan Dahl; Moffitt and Claxton's son Christopher Claxton, director of the Claxton Archive; and architectural firm Marmol Radziner, who designed the exhibition.
Gernreich was an Austrian refugee who arrived in Los Angeles in 1938, at age 16. His early experiences as a mortuary assistant, an RKO Studios sketch artist and studies with modern dance choreographer Lester Horton introduced him to the varied physicality that later infused his fashion work with motion and form. He has been credited numerous innovations including the first knit tube dress, the no-bra bra and the monokini, a topless swimsuit that had two slim straps over the shoulders, exposing the breasts. Clayton took the now-iconic photo of Moffitt in the monokini in 1964. Moffitt referred to the image, which appeared in respectable publications like Women's Wear Daily and Life, as “the shot seen around the world.” The monokini created a scandal in Chicago, where a woman as fined $100 for wearing a monokini; in San Franscisco, Mayor John Shelly was quoted as saying, “topless is at the bottom of porn;” and it was banned in Saint Tropez.
The Total Look features ensembles from Moffitt’s own collection, and this is the first time many of them have been exhibited. Catch glimpses on Phil Pinto’s short film Pretty Pretty Peggy Moffit on Nowness.com.
Find out more about The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernriech, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton.
See Pretty Pretty Peggy Moffit.
Discover The Rudi Gerneich Book by Peggy Moffitt and William Claxton.
Order your Topless Suit Tee at MOCA.
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk
a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize
them, you are a mile away from them and you
have their shoes.”—Jack Handy
What’s it like to be in the shoes of the famous? LIFE.com provides a glimpse into celebrity soles, with photographer Craig Cutler’s gallery of footwear worn by the noteworthy and notorious, ranging from 18th-century popes to present-day pop stars.
Left, Robert Frank: Red-and-Yellow Brogues, circa 1974–1975
Visionary genius Robert Frank changed the lexicon of photography and captured all levels of society with The Americans, published in 1958. Nearly 20 years later, Frank accidentally left these two-tone lace-ups behind at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, N.Y.
Right, Madonna: Concert Shoes, circa 1992–1994
Beaded appliqué stars and a constellation of rhinestones add sparkle to Madonna’s satiny platforms from the Girlie Show World Tour. Notice the subtle contrast detail on the ankle strap that helps to reduce buckle-wear and stretching. Shimmer, shine and safety!
See more Shoes of the Very Famous.
“I hate this nightgown. I hate all my nightgowns, and I hate all my underwear too.”—Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann, Roman Holiday
The ivory lace dress Audrey Hepburn wore when she collected her Oscar for "Roman Holiday" will be auctioned on November 29 by Kerry Taylor Auctions in London. Some sources cite Givenchy as the designer; others credit Edith Head with the design Givenchy with alterations. According to Vogue UK, the iconic, full-skirted dress was adapted from a version designed by Edith Head that the actress wore in the last scene of Roman Holiday in 1952, and it has been valued at £40,000—£60,000. Hepburn, who called it her “lucky dress,” had given it to her mother, Ella van Heemstra; her mother, in turn, gave it to a friend who lived in America. The dress had been stored away in a box until the family put it up for sale. Before auctioneer Taylor could display the dress, she had to shave the mannequin to fit a 34-inch bust and a 24-inch waist.
Read more in the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.
See Roman Holiday.
Update 12.01.2011: A private collector purchased Ms. Hepburn’s “lucky” Oscar dress for £84,000.
In the 1980s, Denis Piel photographed nearly every model who became a supermodel, a series campaigns for Donna Karan and a near-iconic photo of a distinctively pregnant Isabella Rossellini.
Back then it seemed to me that for every naturalistic, sensuous image the Austrailia-raised, France-based photographer created, there was a heavily contrived nip-slip or cheeky posterior revelation weighing down his oeuvre. But now, all is forgiven in light of this image: an inimitably dapper Man Ray standing on a doorstep, an über-Mr. Rogers in a red cardi, who’d be welcome in my neighorbood any time. See more of Denis Piel’s work at everyday I show.
... or Why Branding Can Be Dangerous to Your Mental Health
The new limited edition packaging design for Diet Coke presents an unprecedented risk for consumers of the product, potentially transforming even the most laid-back addict into Patrick Burney, Julia Roberts’ terrifying OCD husband in the 1991 thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. Keep those cans in order—or else!
It’s over, people! Labor Day made it official. The disappearance of scuffed white pumps (wishful thinking) provides additional proof. Need more evidence? The Hollywood Pool on Cole Avenue has been drained and it’s as dry as the proverbial bone. Never mind the 10-day forecast for mid-70s temperatures or the man relieving himself against the chainlink fence (out of frame, stage left). The kids and their water wings are gone. The loopy slide’s sole remaining power is to chafe. Long live Fall.
“Turbeville is of a generation of fashion photographers, alongside Richard Avedon and Guy Bourdin, who focused on the subject in their photographs as opposed to the clothes they are wearing, and who followed their own distinct conceptual agenda, rather than that of the stylist.”–Jules Wright, Tainted Beauty, Nowness.com
Concurrent with the launch of Fashion Week and Fashion’s Night Out: Tainted Beauty, an exhibition of photography by Deborah Turbeville, will open at the Donna Karen flagship boutique in London on September 8. Turbeville is reknowned for collaborations with Karen, Karl Lagerfeld and Comme des Garcons; assignments for Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, and Italian, French, Russian, British, and American Vogue, (including the 1975 Bathhouse series); and a commission by Jackie Onassis to photograph the unseen Versailles.
In an age in which every artist is a brand, DNA terms defining Turbeville’s work might include: tainted otherworldly haunted visionary individualistic avant-garde extreme enigmatic sensuous sexual storied subdued softly focused composed elegant melancholy distinctive fine art boundary-blurring narrative broken tableaux lost characters.
Turbeville’s latest book, The Fashion Pictures, will be released in October. Until then:
