Rudi Gernreich
Rudi Gernreich (also: Rudy Gernreich ; * August 8, 1922 in Vienna ; † April 21, 1985 in Los Angeles ) was a fashion designer and homosexual activist .
In 1938, the Jewish Austrian Gernreich fled from persecution during the Nazi era to the USA , where he settled in Los Angeles . He first performed as a dancer and then became a fashion designer, in collaboration with model Peggy Moffitt and photographer William Claxton . In 1950 he co-founded the Mattachine Society , the first homosexual movement worldwide after 1945.
His unusual and courageous designs made him one of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century. Some of his ideas were the topless mode (so-called. Monokini ), the "total look" or unisex mode. These are now part of the fashionable repertoire of course, but led to violent opposition in the 1960s, which, however, earned him great popularity and led to numerous interviews in newspapers and television programs.
Rudi Gernreich also designed the uniforms of the moon crew in the science fiction television series Moon Base Alpha 1 .
Gernreich left the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles an archive with numerous items of clothing, designs and samples, with press clippings, accessories, pieces of furniture, notebooks and some of his personal items of clothing. It includes around 1000 objects.
literature
- Peggy Moffitt , William Claxton : The Rudy Gernreich Book , Rizzoli International Publications (1991)
- Brigitte Felderer (Ed.): Rudy Gernreich - Fashion Will Go Out Of Fashion , DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne (2000)
Web links
- Literature by and about Rudi Gernreich in the catalog of the German National Library
- WDR record date on the 20th anniversary of death
- Page about Gernreich
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gernreich, Rudi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian-American fashion designer and gay activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 21, 1985 |
| Place of death | los Angeles |