unlabelled, comprising: a printed hide single-breasted jacket with glass 'eye' buttons; a mini skirt with elasticated waist, waist 86cm 34in; a green-toned printed jersey dress, bust 91cm 36in; three pairs of tights; a matching bra and pair of underwear, labelled, bust 81cm, 32in; a pair of matching printed hide-covered pumps; and matching mitts; and a printed lycra 'Yashmak' hood, (13)
Literature: 'The Rudi Gernreich Book' Peggy Moffitt & William Claxton p121, 122, Peggy wrote
'stills from the making of the short film BASIC BLACK, which deomonstrated Rudi's 'Total Look'. The 'animals' took off stenciled calfskin coats and suits to reveal matching dresses - and then tights, underapants and bras in Lycra (the hats were also Lycra) The clothing in the film won Rudi his second Coty Award and the film itself won many awards'.
William Claxton recalled,
“In 1967 Peggy and I had just returned from ‘swinging London’ and Paris to work in New York. We were commissioned by a small commercial production company to come up with something which would serve as my ‘reel’ in order to get hired to direct TV commercials. While sitting on our bed at the Algonquin Hotel, we collaborated in writing a shooting script that would show fashion, makeup, and hair on three beautiful models wearing the fashion designs of avant-garde Rudi Gernreich’s collection for that fall. We shot the film on a weekend, had original music composed for the sound track and ‘Basic Black’ was born. It was very well received, won several awards and has been referred to as the first fashion video.”
Exhibited:
‘The Total Look - The Creative Collaboration between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton’ -Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, Feb 26 -May 27, 2012, Scad Museum of Art, June 22 - Oct. 7, 2012; Cincinnati Arts Museum, Feb 28-May 24, 2015,
‘Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich’ Phoenix Art Museum, April 7-September 26, 2021
See The Metropolitan Museum collection for an identical suit, accession no1985.374.34a–c
A recording of 'BASIC BLACK' can be viewed here.
1960s