Photo below: Cover of Time Magazine, courtesy of Time Inc.
Photos courtesy of Mannequins Museum Archive, unless otherwise specified.

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I discovered an article mentioning Erte had designed mannequins. I met Rudi at the opening of an exhibit for which I was the curator, “Mannequin Madness”, sponsored by Security Pacific National Bank, held at their downtown Los Angeles headquarters in December 1981.

Rudi became a mentor to me and championed my cause to “save the mannequins” writing a reference letter on my behalf when I applied for a National Endowment of the Arts grant.

I have fond memories of lunching with Rudi behind Fred Segals, a fun clothing store on the now famous Melrose Place.

He told me about his escape from Vienna at the onset of WWII with his mother on the last ship to leave Italy for the U.S. His bicycle had been left at the port they departed from, but somehow miraculously appeared at their next stop.

The last time I visited his home he showed me drawings of his pubikini, again a daring fashion statement post “monokini” (1964) which was modeled by his muse by Peggy Moffitt and photographed by her husband William Claxton.

Examples of Claxton’s photos can be seen at www.williamclaxton.com .

Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise of Los Angeles, retains the Rudi Gernreich collection. Their website is www.fidm.com .

After Rudi suggested the one mannequin in my Pierre Imans photo collection possibly was the design of Erte I was keen to find out.

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