RUDI GERNREICH [1969] Set of 2 photos

Los Angeles: Warner Brothers, [1969]. Set of two vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) black-and-white glossy photos. Tape remnant and pencil notation on front of one portrait. Overall about fine.

Rudi Gernreich (1922-1985) was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashion design as a social statement to advance sexual freedom, producing clothes that followed the natural form of the female body, freeing them from the constraints of high fashion.

He was a founding member of and financially supported the early activities of the Mattachine Society, which was a very early gay rights organization. He consciously pushed the boundaries of acceptable fashion and used his designs as an opportunity to comment on social issues and to expand society’s perception of what was acceptable. (Wikipedia)

Gernreich is photographed with a model wearing his creation for the 1969 Warner Brothers film 2000 Years Later. The second photo is from approximately the same period.