Woman's Swimsuit

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Woman's Swimsuit

United States, California, 1958
Costumes; principal attire (entire body)
Wool knit
Center back length: 23 in. (58.42 cm)
Gift of Walter Bass (CR.220.62-2)
Costume and Textiles
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

As a boy in Vienna, Rudi Gernreich spent countless hours sketching high fashion in his aunt’s dress shop....
As a boy in Vienna, Rudi Gernreich spent countless hours sketching high fashion in his aunt’s dress shop. In California, following a career in dance, he based his fashion designs on the beauty of the body in motion. Renouncing garment construction methods of the 1950s that sculpted the female body into an idealized hourglass silhouette, Gernreich used wool knits to create dresses and swimsuits that clung daringly close to the bodies of their newly unfettered wearers.

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
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Exhibition history

  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery, July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery, July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" South Brisbane, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
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