Peggy Moffitt | |
|---|---|
 Peggy Moffitt, a model wearing a monokini, as published inWomen's Wear Daily, 3 June 1964 | |
| Born | Margaret Moffitt (1937-10-02)October 2, 1937 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | August 10, 2024(2024-08-10) (aged 86) |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Margaret Moffitt (October 2, 1937 – August 10, 2024) was an American model and actress. During the 1960s, she worked very closely with fashion designerRudi Gernreich, and developed a signature style that featured heavy makeup and anasymmetrical haircut. As an actress, she had a number ofbit parts in various films, including as afashion model inAntonioni's 1966 filmBlowup.
Margaret Moffitt was born inLos Angeles on October 2, 1937, the daughter of screenwriterJack and Mary (née Came) Moffitt.[1][2][3]
She grew up in the city'sHancock Park neighborhood and attended theMarlborough School.[1]
She moved toNew York City after graduation, where she studied at theNeighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre[1] in the 1950s. There she was taught bySydney Pollack andMartha Graham and studied alongsideRobert Duvall andSuzanne Pleshette.[3]
While still a student in New York in the 1950s, Moffitt had a short-term contract atParamount Pictures, and appeared in supporting and sometimes uncredited roles in movies with name stars. Her acting career began with an uncredited role in the 1955 filmYou're Never Too Young,[4] withJerry Lewis.[3] She returned to Los Angeles to begin her acting career in Hollywood,[1] and had parts inMeet Me in Las Vegas withCyd Charisse;Up Periscope (1956) withJames Garner; andGirls Town (1959); withMamie Van Doren andMel Tormé.[3]
In 1966 she appeared in fashion photographerWilliam Klein's 1966mockumentary,Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?.[3] In the same year, she played a bit part as a fashion model inMichelangelo Antonioni's famousSwinging Sixties filmBlowup, filmed inLondon and starringDavid Hemmings.[3]
On television, she appeared onThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour,Alcoa Theatre, and the 1960sBatman series.[3]
Moffitt first began modeling inParis in the 1950s.[5]
During the 1960s, she developed a signature style, including false eyelashes and heavy eye makeup.[6] Her hairstyle, an asymmetrical bowl cut,[7] created byVidal Sassoon, became known as the "five point".[8] Her unique look became an icon of the 1960s fashion scene.[4]
Gernreich collaborated with Moffitt and her husband, photographerWilliam Claxton. The three became "a dynamic and inseparable trio."[9][10] "Without Rudi I would have been a gifted and innovative model," explained Moffitt inThe 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."[11] Moffitt was later described as his muse.[9][12]
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.[13] Gernreich had Moffitt model the suit in person forDiana Vreeland ofVogue, 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 theirbikini tops already," he said, "so it seemed like the natural next step."[14] She told him, "If there's a picture of it, it's an actuality. You must make it."[15] Gernreich decided to call his design amonokini. When a photo shoot was arranged on Montego Bay in Jamaica,[16] all five models hired for the session refused to wear the design. The photographer finally persuaded an adventurous local to model it.[17]
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.[18] 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 theMayflower. I carried that goddamnedPlymouth 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. NotPlayboy. NotEsquire. I didn't want to be exploited.[19]
Look was the first to publish, afterLIFE refused,[20] a rear view of Moffitt modeling the swimsuit on June 2, 1964,[21][22] and the following day columnistCarol Bjorkman ofWomen's Wear Daily published a frontal view picture of Moffitt wearing the suit.[21] 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]
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.[19] After Gernreich's death, she retained legal rights to his designs and arranged for his designs to be displayed in an exhibition titledThe Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton at theLos Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art's Pacific Design Center.[26] She also collaborated withMarylou Luther and her husband to release a comprehensive book chronicling Gernreich's designs.[citation needed]
Moffitt married photographerWilliam Claxton in 1959.[1] The couple had a son, Christopher, in 1973. They remained married until Claxton's death in October 2008.[28]
Moffitt died from complications ofdementia at her home inBeverly Hills, California, on August 10, 2024, at the age of 86.[1][29] She was interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).[30]
Boyd Rice andGiddle Partridge released a limited editionvinyl recording calledGoing Steady with Peggy Moffitt in 2008.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | You're Never Too Young | Agnes | AMartin & 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 |
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.
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."
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