Peggy Moffitt: The Total Look

The 60s Fashion Icon Invites NOWNESS into Her Pop-Infused Los Angeles home

Still rocking her signature Vidal Sassoon five-point cut, Peggy Moffitt chats about being muse and model to designer Rudi Gernreich and her husband, photographer William Claxton, in director Phil Pinto’s new short filmed at Moffitt's colorful home in Los Angeles. Immortalized in Claxton’s 1964 photograph of her wearing Gernreich’s rule-smashing topless monokini bathing suit, Moffitt defined the look of the swinging 60s with her exaggerated dress sense, asymmetric bowl cut, and heavy, kabuki-inspired makeup. “Peggy is a true innovator, an extension of the pop art aesthetic,” says Museum of Contemporary Art Director Jeffrey Deitch. “She invented a new approach to modeling; she brought to it her background in modern dance, and her understanding of and connections to the art world.” The trio’s collaboration is celebrated in The Total Look exhibit at MOCA's Pacific Design Center, which closes this weekend.
Curated by Cameron Silver and co-curated by Jhordan Dahl and Ethel Seno, the show features 55 head-to-toe ensembles by Gernreich, culled from Moffitt’s personal collection of 400 pieces, alongside Claxton’s era-epitomizing photos and his 1967 short Basic Black, starring Moffitt and widely considered to be the first fashion film.

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Peggy Moffitt: The Total Look on Nowness.com.