skirt, 2-piece
date: label: Date made
content: 1970
name: label: designer
content: Gernreich, Rudi
notes: label: Description
content: 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 with 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: LGBTQ
label: Subject
content: Gay Rights
label: Subject
content: LGBTQ Rights
label: general subject association
content: Fashion
label: general subject association
content: Gender
label: general subject association
content: Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
label: general subject association
content: Gay liberation movement
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Estate of Rudi Gernreich (through: Oreste F. Pucciani)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0013.42
label: accession number
content: 1986.0013
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0013.42
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Skirt, 2-Piece
label: Other Terms
content: Skirt, 2-Piece; Lower Body; Main Dress; Unisex
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: flat: 8 3/4 in x 23 in; 22.225 cm x 58.42 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; overall, mounted: 9 in x 17 1/2 in x 11 in; 22.86 cm x 44.45 cm x 27.94 cm