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Peggy Moffitt

Margaret Moffitt (October 2, 1937 – August 10, 2024) was an American model and actress. During the 1960s, she worked very closely with fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, and developed a signature style that featured heavy makeup and an asymmetrical hair cut.

Peggy Moffitt
Peggy Moffitt, a model wearing a monokini, as published in Women's Wear Daily, 3 June 1964[1]
Born
Margaret Moffitt

(1937-10-02)October 2, 1937
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedAugust 10, 2024(2024-08-10) (aged 86)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Model
  • actress
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1959; died 2008)​
Children1

Early life

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Margaret Moffitt was born in Los Angeles on October 2, 1937, the daughter of screenwriter Jack and Mary (née Came) Moffitt.[2][3] She grew up in the city's Hancock Park neighborhood and attended the Marlborough School.[2] She moved to New York City after graduation, where she studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.[2] She returned to Los Angeles to begin her career.[2]

Career

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Modeling

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Though her unique look has become widely recognized, Moffitt began her a career as an actress, beginning with an uncredited role in the 1955 film You're Never Too Young.[4][5] She first began modeling in Paris in the 1950s.[6]

During the 1960s, she developed a signature style, including false eyelashes and heavy eye makeup.[7] Her hairstyle, an asymmetrical bowl cut,[8] created by Vidal Sassoon, became known as the "five point".[9] Her unique look became an icon of the 1960s fashion scene.[5]

Gernreich, Moffitt, and Claxton

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Gernreich collaborated with Moffitt and her husband, photographer William Claxton. The three became "a dynamic and inseparable trio."[10][11] "Without Rudi I would have been a gifted and innovative model," explained Moffitt in The Rudi Gernreich Book. "Without me he would have been an avant-garde designer of genius. We made each other better. We were each other's catalyst.... It was fun, it was invigorating, it was a true collaboration, and yes, it was love."[12] Moffitt was later described as his muse.[10][13]

Monokini

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Main article: Monokini

Gernreich first conceived of a topless swimsuit in December 1962, but didn't intend to produce the design commercially. It had more meaning to Gernreich as an idea than as a reality.[14] Gernreich had Moffitt model the suit in person for Diana Vreeland of Vogue, who asked him why he conceived of the design. Gernreich told her he felt it was time for "freedom-in fashion as well as every other facet of life," but that the swimsuit was just a statement. "[Women] drop their bikini tops already," he said, "so it seemed like the natural next step."[15] She told him, "If there's a picture of it, it's an actuality. You must make it."[16] Gernreich decided to call his design a monokini. When a photo shoot was arranged on Montego Bay in Jamaica,[17] all five models hired for the session refused to wear the design. The photographer finally persuaded an adventurous local to model it.[18]

To avoid sensationalizing the design, Moffitt, her husband and photographer, William Claxton, and Gernreich decided to publish their own pictures for the fashion press and news media.[19] Moffitt was initially resistant to the idea of posing topless, and afraid the photograph and ensuing coverage could get out of control. She said,

I am a puritanical descendant of the Mayflower. I carried that goddamned Plymouth Rock on my back. … When I did give in, I did so with a lot of rules. I would not show myself on the runway that way. I'd do it only with Bill. Since Rudi would never ever have enough money to do this, I did it for free. But I had final say on everywhere it went photographically. Not Playboy. Not Esquire. I didn't want to be exploited.[20]

Look was the first to publish, after LIFE refused,[21] a rear view of Moffitt modeling the swimsuit on June 2, 1964,[1][22] and the following day columnist Carol Bjorkman of Women's Wear Daily published a frontal view picture of Moffitt wearing the suit.[1] The photograph became a world-wide news event.[23] It became a celebrated image of the extremism of 1960s designs.[24] Moffitt later said, "It was a political statement. It wasn't meant to be worn in public."[25]

Moffitt tired of the single-minded attention to the images of her modeling the Monokini. In 2012, she said of the image, "The shot seen around the world. Think of something in your life that took 1/60th of a second to do. Now, imagine having to spend the rest of your life talking about it. I think it's a beautiful photograph, but oh, am I tired of talking about it."[26][27]

Later work

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In 1985, the Los Angeles Fashion Group staged a Gernreich retrospective, "Looking Back at a Futurist." They wanted a woman to model the monokini, but Moffitt loudly objected because she felt it would exploit Gernreich's intentions.[20] After Gernreich's death, she retained legal rights to his designs and arranged for his designs to be displayed in an exhibition titled The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art's Pacific Design Center.[26] She also collaborated with Marylou Luther and her husband to release a comprehensive book chronicling Gernreich's designs.

Personal life and death

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Moffitt married photographer William Claxton in 1959.[2] The couple had a son, Christopher, in 1973. They remained married until Claxton's death in October 2008.[28]

Moffitt died from complications of dementia at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on August 10, 2024, at the age of 86.[2][29]

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Boyd Rice and Giddle Partridge released a limited edition vinyl recording called Going Steady With Peggy Moffitt in 2008.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1955 You're Never Too Young Agnes A Martin & Lewis comedy; uncredited
1956 Meet Me in Las Vegas Showgirl Uncredited
1956 The Birds and the Bees Penny Uncredited
1958 Senior Prom Girl With Holder
1959 The Young Captives Teenager Uncredited
1959 Up Periscope Jukebox girl Uncredited
1959 Battle Flame Nurse Fisher
1959 Girls Town Flo Alternative title: The Innocent and the Damned
1960 Alcoa Theatre Dodie Charles Episode: "Capital Gains"
1960 Goodyear Theatre Dodie Charles Episode: "Capital Gains"
1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Robin Rath Episode: "Beast in View"
1966 Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? Mannequin/Model French title: Qui êtes vous, Polly Maggoo?
1966 Blowup Model Uncredited
1967 Basic Black Model

References

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  1. ^ a b c "The Rudi Gernreich Book". Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Meltzer, Marisa (August 13, 2024). "Peggy Moffitt, 86, Dies; Defined '60s Fashion With a Bathing Suit and a Bob". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  3. ^ "The Birth of Margaret Moffitt". California Birth Index. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  4. ^ You're Never Too Young at IMDb
  5. ^ a b Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter (2011). Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s. Macmillan. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-429-95899-8.
  6. ^ Moore, Booth (March 3, 2013). "Cultural Touchstone: Peggy Moffitt". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013.
  7. ^ "Fashion, Freedom and the Total Look". LPK. April 9, 2015. Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  8. ^ "Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich". Phoenix Art Museum. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  9. ^ Lowery, Allison (2013). Historical Wig Styling: Victorian to the Present. CRC Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-240-82124-5.
  10. ^ a b Hodge, Brooke (February 23, 2012). "Clothes Encounters: Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt and William Claxton". New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  11. ^ "The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton". Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  12. ^ ""The Total Look: Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton," Cincinnati Art Museum, through May 24, 2015". March 24, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  13. ^ "Peggy Moffit". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  14. ^ Smith, Liz (January 18, 1965). "The Nudity Cult". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  15. ^ Bay, Cody (June 16, 2010). "The Story Behind the Lines". Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  16. ^ "The Rudi Gernreich Book". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  17. ^ "The First Monokini: Trying to make the Topless Swimsuit happen in 1964". Messy Nessy Chic. March 5, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  18. ^ Kalter, Suzy (May 25, 1981). "20 Remember Those Topless Suits? After a Cool-Out, Racy Rudi Gernreich Returns to the Fashion Swim". People Magazine. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2013. The photographer on location in Montego Bay finally persuaded an adventurous local to wiggle into the designer's latest concoction: tight-fitting black knit bottoms held up with—gasp!—nothing more than a pair of skinny suspenders.
  19. ^ "Peggy Moffitt in Rudi Gernreich, Topless Swimsuit (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  20. ^ a b Amorosi, A.D. "Q&A: Peggy Moffitt". The Philadelphia Citypaper. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  21. ^ Miss Rosen (July 1, 2019). "The Photograph That Rocked the Pop Culture Landscape". Feature Shoot. Retrieved September 4, 2021. The idea for the monokini first came to Gernreich in December 1962 and first appeared in futuristic fashion feature in a late 1963 issue of Look magazine — after LIFE refused to publish them. In The Rudy Gernreich Book, Moffitt recalls the editor at LIFE shamelessly told Claxton, "This is a family magazine, and naked breasts are allowed only if the woman is an aborigine."
  22. ^ Shteir, Rachel (1964). Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show. East Pakistan Police Co-operative Society. pp. 318–321. ISBN 0-19-512750-1. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017.
  23. ^ "The Rudi Gernreich Book". Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  24. ^ Jennifer Craik, The Face of Fashion, page 145, Routledge, 1993, ISBN 0203409426
  25. ^ Walls, Jeanette (January 14, 1991). "High Fashion's Lowest Neckline". New York Magazine. 24 (2). New York Media, LLC: 21. ISSN 0028-7369.
  26. ^ a b Pinto, Phil (May 18, 2012). "Peggy Moffitt: The Total Look" (video). Retrieved January 11, 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Peggy Moffitt". Vogue. No. 769. September 2014. p. 582. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  28. ^ Martin, Douglas (October 14, 2008). "William Claxton, Photographer, is Dead at 80". nytimes.com/. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018.
  29. ^ Twersky, Carolyn (August 13, 2024). "Model Peggy Moffitt, a Swinging Sixties Icon, Dies at 87". W Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2024.

Further reading

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  • Peggy Moffitt, William Claxton: The Rudy Gernreich Book, Rizzoli International Publications (1991)
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