With summer on the verge, everyone’s attention is turning to swimwear, and I don’t think anyone will be talking about anything but Rudi Gernreich’s Monokini for a good while! The fashion activist continues to stir up the hornet’s nest of Western sensibilities with his daring swimwear from last summer, apropos of his personal history and artistic goals. Let’s take a look at his past, and also at his shocking beachwear, which has already led to the arrest of one young woman outside of Chicago.
Bear with me as I tell you of Rudi Gernreich’s childhood. He grew up in Vienna, Austria, the son of a stocking maker. He spent his afternoons in his aunt’s dress shop where he would sketch designs and share them with her clients. At age twelve, he was offered an apprenticeship by designer Ladislaus Zettel in London, but his mother declined due to his age.
His dress shop days did more than just belie his talent for fashion though. He recounts his first explorations of sexuality in fashion, and the liberation of…