Object Details
- Description
- This micro-miniskirt was part of a “futuristic fashion” collection designed by Rudi Gernreich, featured in Life Magazine in 1970 and displayed at Expo ’70, a world’s fair in Osaka, Japan, although never produced and sold commercially. Gernreich, born in Austria in 1922, emigrated to the U.S. with his mother in 1938, fleeing Nazi persecution of Jews and settling in Los Angeles. Along with his then-partner, activist Harry Hay and others, he was a founding member of the Mattachine Society, an early LGBTQ/gay rights organization, around 1950. Gernreich first worked as a dancer and in costume design in Los Angeles, eventually becoming known for avant-garde fashion designs. Many of his clothes were “unisex,” intended for men and women alike, as he sought to detach clothing from gender—designing skirts for men, pants for women—and remove the stigma of nudity. His body conscious and often minimalist designs can be interpreted as celebrations of the body and statements against sexual repression.
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Costume
- Clothing & Accessories
- Date made
- 1970
- ID Number
- 1986.0013.43
- accession number
- 1986.0013
- catalog number
- 1986.0013.43
- Credit Line
- Estate of Rudi Gernreich
- designer
- Gernreich, Rudi
- subject
- Fashion
- Gender
- Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
- Gay liberation movement
- Measurements
- overall, flat: 9 in x 22 1/2 in; 22.86 cm x 57.15 cm
- overall, mounted: 9 in x 18 1/2 in x 10 in; 22.86 cm x 46.99 cm x 25.4 cm
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Object Name
- Skirt, 2-Piece
- Other Terms
- Skirt, 2-Piece; Lower Body; Main Dress; Unisex
- Record ID
- nmah_375161
Related Object Groups
3D Model