Revolutionizing Fashion: The Politics of Style: Gernreich's "Back-to-School" Collection

Exhibition

Revolutionizing Fashion: The Politics of Style
Alumni Gallery April 12 to September 17, 2000
Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Tan wool sweater with appliquéd harness worn with matching hot pants,
designed and showed in the
fall of 1970 soon after the shootings at
Kent State University.
Baptized by Léon Bing as
the "back-to-school" collection.

American, Rudi Gernreich
for Harmon Knitwear

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. William Risman,
KSUM 1993.74.6 and 1993.74.7
Worn with brown leather boots, c.1964-1969
Gift of Eleanor Midrack Shockey,
KSUM 1987.16.7 ab

1970: Past, Present and Future

Rudi Gernreich was no stranger to controversy. From his famous topless bathing suit in 1964, Gernreich approached fashion as a social commentator. Known for exploring the intricacies of contemporary life, Rudi Gernreich was asked to envision the clothes of tomorrow for the first issue of Life magazine of January 1, 1970. His answers were bold and shocking: functional, comfortable, minimal unisex garments worn interchangeably by hairless men and women. His style politics eliminated gender related esthetics in order to enable true equality, obliterated nostalgia and proposed that nudity no longer to be equated with morality. Gernreich aimed to create a "utility principle" that would have allowed us to "take our mind off how we look and concentrate on really important matters".

This utopian anti-fashion vision of the future was extremely powerful at the dawn of a new decade but was soon overshadowed by the chaotic state of current affairs and the tragic events at Kent State. Fueled by the debate and consternation over the shooting, Gernreich created his next collection with a militaristic look and outfitted models with guns, dog tags and combat boots. His dynamic attitude towards fashion was always anchored in contemporary life and his 1971 collection was thus tinted with the aggressiveness of current political events.