View source for Monokini

{{short description|Topless swimsuit designed by Rudi Gernreich}}
{{Redirect|Topless swimsuit|a general discussion of topless swimming|Toplessness#Swimsuits|the album by Stereo Total|Monokini (album){{!}}''Monokini'' (album)|the sling swimsuit worn by men|Mankini|the one-piece women's swimsuit covering the breasts|One-piece swimsuit}}
{{Infobox clothing item
| image_file    = File:Peggy Moffitt in Rudi Gernreich monokini swimsuit 1964.jpg
| caption       = [[Peggy Moffitt]], a model wearing a monokini, as published in ''[[Women's Wear Daily]]'', 3 June 1964<ref name=gernrich20/>
| designer      = [[Rudi Gernreich]]
| year          = 1964
| type          = [[Bathing suit]]
| material      =  [[wool]] [[Jersey (fabric)|jersey]]<ref name="Metropolitan Museum of Art">{{cite web |title=Bathing suit, 1964, Rudi Gernreich, American, born Austria |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81814 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=4 September 2021 |quote=Gernreich's paradox is that the bottom of the topless suit is very conservative, with ample coverage and made in the same wool material that had been used for Victorian bathing apparel.}}</ref>
| on_display_at = 
}}
{{external media  <!-- Topless Bathing Suit 1964 Paul Schutzer -->
| float  = right
| width  = 170
| topic  = {{ill|Daphné Dayle|fr|Daphné Dayle}}, 1964, by [[Paul Schutzer]]<!--centered italic text--->
| caption =  <!-- text placed left or right of headerimage --->
| headerimage= <!-- [[File:LIFE magazine logo.PNG|alt=LIFE magazine logo|x18px|right]] --><!--search commons please include "|alt= text" and x-height in px "|x20px" example [[File:LIFE magazine logo.PNG|alt=LIFE magazine logo|x24px|right]] or ...|left]] --->
| title  = for ''[[Life (magazine)#1936 weekly news magazine|Life]]'' magazine, 10 July 1964
| image1 = [https://images.google.com/hosted/life/31e14e887b1747e9.html monokini, tied behind neck, 46 images]<ref name="nytimes-1998-Schutzer">{{cite news |last1=Loke |first1=Margarett |title=Photography Review; Fashion and Art: The Gown Was Gorgeous, but the Picture Was Divine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/04/arts/photography-review-fashion-art-gown-was-gorgeous-but-picture-was-divine.html |access-date=5 September 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=4 September 1998 |quote=Any history of fashion photography has to recognize the work of Paul Schutzer and his 1964 photographs in Life magazine of the infamous topless bathing suit by Rudi Gernreich.&nbsp;... For the Gernreich swimsuit assignment he took an underwater photograph of a female model in the topless black swimsuit surrounded by males in black trunks, the models' heads obscured by the surface lines of the water. }}</ref><!-- https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/03/05/the-first-monokini-trying-to-make-the-topless-swimsuit-happen-in-1964/ -->
| image2 = [https://images.google.com/hosted/life/3929e941c9754356.html monokini, underwater photographs, 23 images]<ref name="nytimes-1998-Schutzer"/><!-- https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/topless-bathing-suit/mAG17nh9-pZffg -->
| image3 = [https://images.google.com/hosted/life/3d185d69bcd2d6cd.html topless bathing suit with matching large scarf, 32 images]
}}

The '''monokini''' (also known as a "'''topless [[bikini]]'''" or "'''unikini'''")<ref>{{cite web|title=Monokini|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/monokini|access-date=20 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818034055/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/monokini|archive-date=18 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bikini-science.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html |title=Bikini Science |access-date=2018-01-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202536/http://www.bikini-science.com/costumes/soutien-gorge_SS/topless_S/topless.html |archive-date=2018-01-27 }}</ref> was designed by [[Rudi Gernreich]] in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps;<ref>{{cite web|title=Monokini|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Topless+swimsuit|work=Free Dictionary|access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref> it was the first women's [[Toplessness#Swimsuits|topless swimsuit]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rosebush|first1=Judson|title=Peggy Moffitt Topless Maillot in Studio|url=http://bikini-science.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html|website=Bikini Science|access-date=27 January 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202433/http://bikini-science.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/PM6410_S/PM6410.html|archive-date=27 January 2018}}</ref><ref name=alac>{{cite book|last=Alac|first=Patrik|title=Bikini Story|year=2012|publisher=Parkstone International|isbn=978-1780429519|page=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIj_GBl5sAoC&pg=PA68|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129055818/https://books.google.com/books?id=SIj_GBl5sAoC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68|archive-date=2018-01-29}}</ref> His revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh"<ref name="everything"/> and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck."<ref name=nangle>{{cite news|last1=Nangle|first1=Eleanore|title=Topless Swimsuit Causes Commotion|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion|access-date=20 August 2015|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=June 10, 1964|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914161150/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/06/10/page/65/article/topless-swimsuit-causes-commotion/|archive-date=14 September 2015}}</ref> Some credit Gernreich's design with initiating,<ref name=alac/> or describe it as a symbol of, the [[sexual revolution]].<ref name=elle>{{cite web|title=Fit Celebrates the Substance of Style|url=http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a2060/fit-celebrates-the-substance-of-style-2452/|work=[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]]|access-date=23 August 2015|date=July 5, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924010954/http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a2060/fit-celebrates-the-substance-of-style-2452/|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref>

Gernreich designed the monokini as a protest against a repressive society. He did not initially intend to produce the monokini commercially,<ref name=bay/> but was persuaded by Susanne Kirtland of ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' to make it available to the public. When the first photograph of a frontal view of [[Peggy Moffitt]] wearing the design was published in ''[[Women's Wear Daily]]'' on June 3, 1964,<ref name=gernrich20>{{cite web|title=The Rudi Gernreich Book|url=http://www.naderlibrary.com/gernreich.20.htm|access-date=11 January 2013 |url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310234502/http://www.naderlibrary.com/gernreich.20.htm |archive-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref> it generated a great deal of controversy in the United States and other countries. Gernreich sold about 3,000 suits, but only two were worn in public. [[#June 19, 1964|The first was worn publicly]] on June 19, 1964, by [[Carol Doda]] in [[San Francisco]] at the [[Condor Club|Condor Nightclub]], ushering in the era of [[topless bar|topless nightclubs]] in the United States, and [[#North Avenue beach|the second at North Avenue beach]] in Chicago in July 1964 by artist's model Toni Lee Shelley, who was arrested.

== Etymology ==

Gernreich may have chosen his use of the word ''monokini'' (''mono'' meaning 'single') through [[back-formation]] by interpreting the ''bi'' of ''bikini'' as the Latin prefix ''[[bi-]]'' ('two'), denoting a two-piece swimsuit.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gurmit Singh|author2=Ishtla Singh|title=The History of English|pages=13–14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taEnAAAAQBAJ&q=bikini+latin+prefix+back+formation&pg=PA13|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781444119244|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222071632/https://books.google.com/books?id=taEnAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA13&dq=bikini%20latin%20prefix%20back%20formation&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q=bikini%20latin%20prefix%20back%20formation&f=false|archive-date=2016-12-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Burridge|first=Kate|title=Blooming English|page=153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPGpyOJTdvIC&q=bikni+unikini&pg=PA153|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521548322|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129055818/https://books.google.com/books?id=TPGpyOJTdvIC&pg=PA153&dq=bikni+unikini&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jq_-UbzRPIzOrQfcs4FQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=bikni%20unikini&f=false|archive-date=2018-01-29}}</ref> But in fact the bikini swimsuit design was named by its inventor [[Louis Réard]] after the [[Bikini Atoll]] in the Pacific, five days after [[Operation Crossroads]], the first peace-time test of nuclear weapons, took place there. Réard hoped his design would have a similarly explosive effect.<ref>{{cite news|title=The History of the Bikini|url=https://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1908353_1905440,00.html|magazine=Time|access-date=August 20, 2013|date=July 3, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930070902/http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1908353_1905440,00.html|archive-date=September 30, 2013}}</ref><ref name=bikinistyle>{{cite web | url = http://www.swimsuit-style.com/bikini.html | title = Swimsuit Trivia History of the Bikini | publisher = Swimsuit Style | access-date = 2008-07-10 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090309093138/http://swimsuit-style.com/bikini.html | archive-date = 2009-03-09 }}</ref>

== Background ==
{{main article|Rudi Gernreich}}
[[File:Rudi Gernreich in 1951.jpg|thumb|Monokini designer [[Rudi Gernreich]] in 1951. Gernreich had predicted  in a September 1962 issue of ''Women's Wear Daily'' that "Bosoms will be uncovered within five years."<ref name=gernrich20/>]]

[[Austrian American|Austrian-American]] [[fashion designer]], co-founder<ref name=Allyn/>{{rp|24}} of the [[Mattachine Society]], and [[nudist]]<ref name=Allyn/>{{rp|24}} [[Rudi Gernreich]] had strong feelings about society's sexualization of the human body and disagreed with religious and social beliefs that the body was essentially shameful.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rielly|first=Edward J.|title=The 1960s|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=978-0313312618|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3hAR5c9QFcC&pg=PA85|page=85|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630031734/http://books.google.com/books?id=h3hAR5c9QFcC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85|archive-date=2014-06-30}}</ref> Gernreich developed a reputation as an avant-garde designer who broke many of the rules, and his swimsuit designs were unconventional. In its December 1962 issue, ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' remarked, "He has turned the dancer's leotard into a swimsuit that frees the body. In the process, he has ripped out the boning and wiring that made American swimsuits seagoing corsets."<ref name=si1962/> That month he first envisioned<ref name=si1962>{{cite magazine|title=Way Out Out West: New Designs For The Sea...|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1135096/index.htm|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=December 24, 1962|access-date=23 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107204351/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1135096/index.htm|archive-date=7 January 2014}}</ref> creating a [[Toplessness|topless]] swimsuit which he called a monokini.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm |title=Gernreich Bio |publisher=Rudi Gernreich |access-date=2012-11-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213205151/http://gernreich.steirischerbst.at/pages/bio1.htm |archive-date=2016-02-13 }}</ref>

== Origins ==
At the end of 1963, editor Susanne Kirtland of ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' called Gernreich and asked him to submit a design for the suit to accompany a trend story along futuristic lines.<ref name=gernrich20/> He resisted the idea at first, but said, "It was my prediction. For the sake of history, I didn't want  [[Emilio Pucci|Pucci]] to do it first."<ref name=bay/><ref name=alexander1964/> Gernreich found the design more difficult than he expected. His initial designs looked like trunks or boxer shorts.<ref name=alexander1964/> He felt the swimsuit ought to just be bikini bottoms, but realized that this wouldn't constitute a unique design. He initially designed a Balinese sarong that began just under the breasts, but Kirtland didn't feel the design was bold enough and needed to make more of a statement. Gernreich finally chose a design that ended around mid-torso and then added two straps that rose between the breasts and were tied around the neck.<ref name=gernrich20/>  The first two initial attempts to cut the design failed.<ref name=alexander1964/> When a photo shoot was arranged on [[Montego Bay]] in the Bahamas,<ref>
{{cite web |title=The First Monokini: Trying to make the Topless Swimsuit happen in 1964 |url=https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/03/05/the-first-monokini-trying-to-make-the-topless-swimsuit-happen-in-1964/ |website=Messy Nessy Chic |access-date=4 September 2021 |date=5 March 2014}}
</ref> all five models hired for the session refused to wear the design. The photographer finally persuaded  an adventurous local to model it.<ref name=kalter>{{cite news|last=Kalter|first=Suzy|title=20 Remember Those Topless Suits? After a Cool-Out, Racy Rudi Gernreich Returns to the Fashion Swim |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079359,00.html |accessdate=14 January 2013|newspaper=People Magazine |date=May 25, 1981 |url-status=dead |quote=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.  |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110182500/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079359,00.html |archivedate=2011-01-10}}</ref>

To avoid letting others sensationalize the swimsuit and to retain some control of the design, Gernreich asked [[William Claxton (photographer)|William Claxton]], the husband of Gernreich's usually sole model [[Peggy Moffitt]],<ref name=nymagazine>{{cite journal |journal =New York Magazine |date= January 14, 1991 |page=21 |volume= 24 |issue= 2 |issn= 0028-7369 | publisher=  New York Media, LLC |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOkCAAAAMBAJ  |title=High Fashion's Lowest Neckline |first1=Jeanette |last1=Walls}}</ref> to take pictures of his wife in the yellow wool swimsuit.<ref name=elle/> Claxton, Moffitt, and Gernreich wanted to publish their own pictures for the fashion press and news media, and Gernreich gave pictures of Moffit modeling the monokini to a carefully selected handful of news organizations.<ref name=gernreich21/><ref>{{cite news|last=Feitelberg|first=Rosemary|title=Moment 20: Bikinis Beckon|work=Women's Wear Daily|date=November 1, 2010|url=http://www.wwd.com/eye/fashion/moment-20-bikinis-beckon-3344816?navSection=package&navId=3343359|access-date=22 January 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219182751/http://www.wwd.com/eye/fashion/moment-20-bikinis-beckon-3344816?navSection=package&navId=3343359|archive-date=19 February 2014}}</ref>

Moffitt was initially resistant to the idea of posing topless. She said, "I didn't want to do it when he asked me. I am a puritanical descendent 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 (fashion)|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."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Amorosi|first1=A.D.|title=Q&A: Peggy Moffitt|url=http://citypaper.net/articles/091301/cov.fall.qanda.shtml|work=Philadelphia Citypaper|access-date=6 October 2015|date=September 13–20, 2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002045958/http://citypaper.net/articles/091301/cov.fall.qanda.shtml|archive-date=2 October 2015}}</ref> ''Look'' published a rear view, of an adventurous local<ref name=kalter/> from Montego Bay, modeling the swimsuit on June 2, 1964.<ref name=gernrich20/><ref name=luther>{{cite news|last1=Luther|first1=Marylou|title=Topless Creator Gernreich Dies: Fashion World Saw Him as Its Most Innovative|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-22-mn-21986-story.html|access-date=8 October 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 22, 1985|url-status=live|archive-url=
https://web.archive.org/web/20151222131904/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-22/news/mn-21986_1_fashion-industry|archive-date=22 December 2015}}</ref><ref name=shteir>{{cite book|first=Rachel|last=Shteir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPwVfOUWAe0C|title=Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show|pages=318–321|publisher=East Pakistan Police Co-operative Society|year=1964|isbn=0-19-512750-1|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215043725/https://books.google.com/books?id=vPwVfOUWAe0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0|archive-date=2017-02-15}}</ref> Claxton took his pictures of Moffit to ''Life'' but they said they could only print pictures of naked breasts "if the woman is an [[Aboriginal Australians|aborigine]]." Claxton took additional pictures of Moffit especially for ''Life'' with her arms covering her breasts. The picture was one of several images of Moffit in a story about the historical evolution of the breast in fashion history from 1954 to 1964.<ref name=alexander1964>{{cite magazine|last1=Alexander|first1=Shana|title=Fashion's Best Joke on Itself in Years|magazine=Life|date=July 10, 1964|volume=57|issue=2|pages=56–57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56|issn=0024-3019|access-date=October 20, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529022551/https://books.google.com/books?id=mkEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56|archive-date=May 29, 2016}}</ref> Moffit said, "The photograph of me in that issue—hiding my breasts with my arms—is dirty. If you are wearing a fashion that does not have a top as part of its design and hold your arms over your bosom, you're going along with the whole prudish, teasey thing like a [[Playboy bunny]]."<ref name=gernreich21/>

The following day columnist Carol Bjorkman of ''[[Women's Wear Daily]]'' published Claxton's frontal view of Moffitt wearing the suit.<ref name=gernrich20/> It became a celebrated image of the extremism of 1960s designs.<ref>Jennifer Craik, ''The Face of Fashion'', page 145, Routledge, 1993, {{ISBN|0203409426}}</ref> Moffit later said, "It was a political statement. It wasn't meant to be worn in public."<ref name=nymagazine/>
On June 12, 1964 the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' featured a photo of a woman in a monokini with her exposed breasts clearly visible on its front page.<ref name=Allyn/> Claxton's frontal image of Moffit modeling the swimsuit was subsequently published by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' and numerous other publications. ''Life'' writer Shana Alexander noted, "One funny thing about toplessness is that it really doesn't have much to do with breasts. Breasts of course are not absurd; topless swimsuits are. Lately people keep getting the two things mixed up." She mocked the swimsuit design as a "joke".<ref name=alexander1964/> The photo catapulted Moffitt into instant celebrity, reportedly resulting in her receiving everything from marriage proposals to death threats.<ref name=nymagazine/> Moffitt and Claxton later wrote ''The Rudi Gernreich Book'', described as an aesthetic biography of the fashion revolutionary.<ref>''The Rudi Gernreich Book'' (1999), publisher [[Taschen|Taschen GmbH]], {{ISBN|3822871974}}.</ref>{{ref label|Moffitt|A|none}}

Gernreich originally thought that only "six or seven" monokinis would likely be sold, but decided to design it anyway.<ref name=rockwell/> However, when the design got worldwide notice, orders for the non-existent suit poured in until over 1,000 orders were pending.<ref name=alexander1964/> Despite the reaction of fashion critics and church officials, Harmon Knitwear made over 3,000 monokinis.<ref name="everything"/> Gernreich first sold the suit to the [[Joseph Magnin Co.|Joseph Magnin department store]] in San Francisco, where it was an instant hit. In New York City, leading stores like [[B. Altman & Company]], [[Lord & Taylor]], [[Henri Bendel]], Splendiferous and Parisette placed orders. On June 16, 1964, Gernreich's topless swimsuit went on sale in New York City.<ref name=bay>{{cite web|first=Cody|last=Bay|title=The Story Behind the Lines|url=http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076|date=June 16, 2010|access-date=22 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704181947/http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1076|archive-date=4 July 2013}}</ref> The suit was priced at $24 each.<ref name="everything"/><ref>{{cite web|title="The Total Look: Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton," Cincinnati Art Museum, through May 24, 2015|url=http://aeqai.com/main/2015/03/the-total-look-rudi-gernreich-peggy-moffitt-and-william-claxton-cincinnati-art-museum-through-may-24-2015/|access-date=5 October 2015|date=March 24, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080908/http://aeqai.com/main/2015/03/the-total-look-rudi-gernreich-peggy-moffitt-and-william-claxton-cincinnati-art-museum-through-may-24-2015/|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

Moffit said in 1985 that she had been offered $17,000 in 1964 ({{inflation|US|17000|1964|r=-3|fmt=eq}}){{Inflation-fn|US}} by [[Playboy (magazine)|''Playboy'']] to publish Claxton's photograph of her wearing the suit, but refused. "I turned it down as unthinkable. And I don't want to exploit women any more now than I did in 1964. The statement hasn't changed. The suit still is about freedom and not display."<ref name=levine/>

On August 13, 1985, Los Angeles Fashion Group produced a gala at the Wiltern Theatre to benefit the Rudi Gernreich Design Scholarship Fund. Moffit was a member of the committee. When the group considered showing the Monokini suit during the benefit, Moffitt strongly objected.<ref name=levine>{{cite news|last1=Levine|first1=Bettijane|title=Commentary: Retrospective Keeps Alive the Gernreich Genius for Controversy|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-02-vw-5780-story.html|access-date=20 October 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=August 2, 1985|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306234742/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-02/news/vw-5780_1_rudi-gernreich|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

The regional director of the Fashion Group, Sarah Worman, believed that the swimsuit was "the single most important idea he ever had—the one that changed the way women dressed all over the Western world." She said Moffitt's refusal to show it on a model did not make sense when the benefit was modeling everything else he ever did on live models.<ref name=levine/>

== Fashion statement ==
Gernreich did not originally intend to produce the swimsuit commercially. It had more meaning to Gernreich as an idea than as a reality.<ref name=smith/> Gernreich had Moffitt model the suit in person for [[Diana Vreeland]] of ''[[Vogue (magazine)|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. He said,  "[Women] drop their bikini tops already," he said, "so it seemed like the natural next step."<ref name=bay/>  She told him, "If there's a picture of it, it's an actuality. You must make it."<ref name=gernreich21>{{cite web|title=The Rudi Gernreich Book|url=http://www.naderlibrary.com/gernreich.21.htm|access-date=11 January 2013 |url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311025246/http://www.naderlibrary.com/gernreich.21.htm |archive-date=March 11, 2014 }}</ref> Gernreich said in television interview, "It may well be a bit much now. But, just wait. In a couple of years topless bikinis will be a reality and regarded as perfectly natural."<ref name=Thesander/>

Gernreich purposefully used his designs to advance his socio-political views. He wanted to reduce the stigma of a [[nudity|naked]] body, to "cure our society of its sex hang up," as he put it. Gernreich stated, "To me, the only respect you can give to a woman is to make her a human being. A totally emancipated woman who is totally free."<ref name=tay>{{cite web|last1=Tay|first1=Michelle|title=Rudi Gernreich – The Unsung Hero of American Fashion Design|url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1102558/rudi-gernreich-the-unsung-hero-of-american-fashion-design#|access-date=6 October 2015|date=February 24, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823092307/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1102558/rudi-gernreich-the-unsung-hero-of-american-fashion-design|archive-date=23 August 2015}}</ref>

Gernreich said, "Baring the breasts seemed logical in a period of freer attitudes, freer minds, the emancipation of women."<ref name=shteir/><ref>{{cite book |title=Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s  |first1= Hunter |last1=Drohojowska-Philp |isbn=9781429958998 |publisher= Henry Holt and Co. |date =July 2011 |page=98}}</ref>  Gernreich told ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine in 1969, the monokini "is a natural development growing out of all the loosening up, the re-evaluation of values that's going on. There is now an honesty hangup, and part of this is not hiding the body—it stands for freedom."<ref name=rockwell/>

In January 1965, he told [[Gloria Steinem]] in an interview that despite the criticism he'd do it again.<ref name=rockwell>{{cite book|title=The New York Times the Times of the Sixties: The Culture, Politics, and Personalities That Shaped the Decade |publisher=Black Dog and Leventhal |date= June 3, 2014  |first1=John |last1=Rockwell}}</ref>

Moffitt said the design was a logical evolution of Gernreich's [[avant-garde]] ideas in swimwear design as much as a scandalous symbol of the [[permissive society]].<ref name=menkes/>  She said, "He was trying to take away the prurience, the whole perverse side of sex."  She said his design was "prophetic."  "It had to do with more than what to wear to the beach. It was about a changing culture throughout all society, about freedom and emancipation. It was also a reaction against something particularly American: the little boy snickering that women had breasts."<ref name=menkes>{{cite news|last=Menkes|first=Suzy|title=RUNWAYS; Remembrance of Thongs Past|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/style/runways-remembrance-of-thongs-past.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|access-date=14 January 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 18, 1993|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306142520/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/style/runways-remembrance-of-thongs-past.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

Los Angeles Times staff writer Bettijane Levine wrote, "His topless was an artistic statement against women as sex objects, much as [[Pablo Picasso]] painted ''[[Guernica (painting)|Guernica]]'' as a statement against war."<ref name=levine/> Over the next few weeks, his design was covered in more than 20,000 press articles.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Joseph|first1=Alexander|title=Beyond the Bared Breast|url=http://vestoj.com/beyond-the-bared-breast-revisiting-the-significance-of-rudi-gernreich/|work=[[Vestoj]]|access-date=28 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029044818/http://vestoj.com/beyond-the-bared-breast-revisiting-the-significance-of-rudi-gernreich/|archive-date=29 October 2016}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Condor Club North Beach1973.jpg|right|thumb|[[Carol Doda]] wore Gernreich's monokini for her act at the [[Condor Club]], starting the trend of [[topless bar]]s]]

There was a strong public reaction to the original swimsuit design. The Soviet Union denounced the suit, saying it was  "barbarism" and indicated "capitalistic decay".<ref name=Allyn/> The [[Holy See|Vatican]] denounced the swimsuit, and the ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'' said the "industrial-erotic adventure" of the topless bathing suit "negates moral sense." Many of Rudi's contemporaries in the fashion industry reacted negatively. In the US, some Republicans tried to blame the suit on the Democrats' stance on moral issues.<ref name=smith>{{cite magazine|last=Smith|first=Liz|title=The Nudity Cult|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1076827/index.htm|magazine=Sports Illustrated|access-date=14 January 2013|author-link=Liz Smith (journalist)|date=January 18, 1965|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105165617/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1076827/index.htm|archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>  Gernreich introduced the monokini at a time when U.S. [[Naturism|nudists]] were trying to establish a public persona. The [[United States Postmaster General]] had banned nudist publications from the mail until 1958, when the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] declared that the naked body in and of itself could not be deemed [[Obscenity|obscene]].<ref name=Allyn/>  Use of the word ''monokini'' was first recorded in English that year.<ref name="everything">{{cite web |url=http://www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html |title=Bikini Styles: Monokini |publisher=Everything Bikini |access-date=13 January 2013 |year=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729151157/http://www.everythingbikini.com/monokini.html |archive-date=29 July 2012 }}</ref>

In the [[1960s in fashion|1960s]], the monokini influenced the [[sexual revolution]] by emphasizing a woman's personal freedom of dress, even when her attire was provocative and exposed more skin than had been the norm during the more conservative [[1945–1960 in fashion|1950s]].<ref name=Allyn/> Quickly renamed a "topless swimsuit",<ref name=Allyn>{{cite book |first=David Smith |last=Allyn |title=Make Love, Not War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NE9lfn0FBHUC |pages=23–29 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-92942-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103011843/http://books.google.com/books?id=NE9lfn0FBHUC |archive-date=2014-01-03 }}</ref> the design was never successful in the United States, although the issue of allowing both genders equal exposure above the waist [[Topfreedom|has been raised]] as a feminist issue from time to time.<ref name=menkes/>

As the suit gained notoriety, the [[New York City Police Department]] was strictly instructed by the [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|commissioner of parks]] to arrest any woman wearing a monokini.<ref name=Allyn/>  In Dallas, Texas, when a local store featured the suit in a window display, members of the Carroll Avenue Baptist Mission picketed until they removed the display.<ref name=bay/> Copious coverage of the event helped to send the image of exposed breasts across the world. Women's clubs and the Catholic church actively condemned the design. In Italy and Spain, the Catholic Church warned against the topless fashion.<ref name=Thesander>{{cite book |first=Marianne |last=Thesander |title=The Feminine Ideal |page=187 |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=1997 |isbn= 1861890044}}</ref>

=== France ===
In France in 1964, [[Roger Frey]] led the prosecution of the use of the monokini, describing it as: "a public offense against the sense of decency, punishable according to article 330 of the penal code. Consequently, the police chiefs must employ the services of the police so that the women who wear this bathing suit in public places are prosecuted."<ref name="SI9Moral">[[Situationist International]], ''[http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/sketch.html Sketch of a Morality without Obligation or Sanction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709132013/http://www.cddc.vt.edu/SIOnline/si/sketch.html |date=2013-07-09 }}'', Issue No 9, August 1964</ref><ref name="LeMonde">[[Le Monde]], 25 July 1964</ref> At [[Saint-Tropez|St. Tropez]] on the  [[French Riviera]], where [[toplessness]] later became the norm, the mayor ordered police to ban toplessness and to watch over the beach via helicopter.<ref name=Allyn/>

[[Jean-Luc Godard]], a founding mover of [[French New Wave]] cinema, incorporated monokini footage shot by [[Jacques Rozier]] in Riviera into his film ''[[A Married Woman]]'', but it was edited out by the censors.<ref>James Monaco, ''The New Wave'', page 157, UNET 2 Corporation, 2003, {{ISBN|0970703953}}</ref> A few defended Gernreich's design. Fashion designers [[Geraldine Stutz]], president of [[Henri Bendel]], said, "I only wish I were young enough to be one of the pioneers myself." Carol Bjorkman, a columnist at ''Women's Wear-Daily's'' wrote, "What's the matter with the front? After all, it is here to stay, and it is awfully nice being a girl."<ref name=smith/>

=== Chicago {{anchor|North Avenue beach}}===
When Toni Lee Shelley, a 19-year-old artists model, wore the topless bathing suit to the North Avenue beach in Chicago in 1964, 12 police officers responded, 11 to control and disperse the public and photographers, and one to arrest her.<ref name=alexander>{{cite magazine|last1=Alexander|first1=Shana|title=Me? In That!|magazine=Life|date=July 10, 1964|volume=57|issue=2|pages=55–61}}</ref><ref name=starnews>{{cite web|title=Model arrested for wearing topless swimsuit |page=11 |volume=7|issue =209|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19640623&id=jERjAAAAIBAJ&pg=4769,3849426&hl=en|work=Wilmington Morning Star|access-date=23 August 2015|date=June 23, 1964}}</ref> She was charged with [[disorderly conduct]], [[indecent exposure]], and appearing on a public beach without suitable attire. At her arraignment she asked for an all-male jury.<ref name=gernreich21/><ref>{{cite news|title=Date in Court|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/07/11/page/50/article/date-in-court|access-date=22 August 2015|work=Chicago Tribune|date=July 11, 1964|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004012132/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/07/11/page/50/article/date-in-court/|archive-date=4 October 2015}}</ref> She told the press that the swimsuit was "certainly more comfortable."<ref name=starnews/> Shelley was fined US$100 for wearing the swimsuit on a public beach.<ref name=Allyn/>

=== San Francisco {{anchor|June 19, 1964}}===

On 12 June 1964, the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' published on its front page a photo of a woman
with clearly visible, exposed breasts wearing a monokini.<ref name=Allyn/>{{rp|25}}

On 19 June 1964, Davey Rosenberg saw an [[Joseph Magnin]] ad for the Monokini in a newspaper.<ref name="hoodline-Peterson-Rosenberg">{{cite web |last1=Peterson |first1=Art |title=North Beach History: The Birth Of Topless Dancing |url=https://hoodline.com/2016/05/north-beach-history-the-birth-of-topless-dancing/ |website=hoodline.com |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |date=17 May 2016 |quote=In 1964, Rosenberg was employed as a publicist for the Condor. This club and the others in North Beach was doing a middling business by featuring caged young women in bikinis dancing The Swim, the Frug and the Watusi. That was before June 19th, when Rosenberg saw a Joseph Magnin newspaper ad for the Monokini by the designer Rudi Gernreich. ...Seeing the ad, Rosenberg beelined to Magnin's and bought a $25 Monokini. Returning to the club, he presented the garment to a cocktail waitress/go-go dancer named Carol Doda.}}</ref> Davey Rosenberg,<ref name="sfgate-Doda-dies">{{cite news |last1=Fagan |first1=Kevin |last2=Whiting |first2=Sam |title=Legendary S.F. stripper Carol Doda dies at 78 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Legendary-S-F-stripper-Carol-Doda-dies-at-78-6625160.php |access-date=7 September 2021 |work=SFGATE |date=11 November 2015 |quote=Ms. Doda was already a waitress who go-go danced on top of a piano at the Condor 51 years ago when the club's publicist, Davey Rosenberg, handed her a Rudi Gernreich topless swimsuit — the first of its kind — and said, "Try this in the act."  It was a sensation — the first topless dancing act of widespread note in America.}}</ref> the publicist of the [[Condor Club]] in [[San Francisco]]'s [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] district, bought Gernreich's monokini from [[Joseph Magnin]], and gave it to former prune picker, file clerk, and waitress [[Carol Doda]] to wear for her act. That night, June 19,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sfist.com/2015/11/11/carol_doda_pioneering_san_francisco/|title=Carol Doda, '60s Stripping Sensation And Cultural Icon, Dead At 78: SFist|date=November 11, 2015|website=SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports|access-date=November 11, 2023|archive-date=November 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111060811/https://sfist.com/2015/11/11/carol_doda_pioneering_san_francisco/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Doda became the first modern [[topless dancer]] in the United States,<ref name=Allyn/>{{rp|25}} renewing the [[burlesque]] era of the early 1900s in the U.S. [[Mayor of San Francisco|San Francisco Mayor]] [[John F. Shelley|John Shelley]] said, "topless is at the bottom of porn."<ref name=shteir/>  Within a few days, women were baring their breasts in many of the clubs lining San Francisco's Broadway St., ushering in the era of the [[topless bar]].<ref name=shteir/> Doda's debut as a topless dancer was featured in ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine in April 1965.<ref name=Allyn/>{{rp|25}}

San Francisco public officials tolerated the topless bars until April 22, 1965, when Doda was arrested along with Pete Mattioli and Gino del Prete, owners of the Condor Club. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the police department, calling for release of both Doda and free speech activist [[Mario Savio]], held in the same station.<ref name=shteir/> Doda, Mattioli and Gino del Prete were cleared when two judges instructed not-guilty verdicts. Judge Friedman's memorandum to opposing attorneys reads, "Whether acts ... are lewd and dissolute depends not on any individual's interpretation or personal opinion, but on the consensus of the entire community...".<ref name=":Doda0">"Topless Suits in Shows OK", ''Los Angeles Times'', May 8, 1965, Page 9.</ref> Doda rapidly became a symbol of sexual freedom, while topless restaurants, along with shoeshine parlors, ice-cream stands and girl bands proliferated in San Francisco and elsewhere. Journalist [[Earl Wilson (columnist)|Earl Wilson]] wrote in his syndicated column, "Are we ready for girls in topless gowns? Heck, we may not even notice them." English designers created topless evening gowns inspired by the idea.<ref name=Allyn/> The ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'' published a real estate advertisement that promised "bare top swimsuits are possible here".<ref name=shteir/>

== {{anchor|Unikini}} Later designs ==

{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | header = Modern monokinis
 | image1 = A woman with a suntan wearing a bikini (2).jpg
 | width1 = 139
 | image2 = Singapore Tattoo Show 2009.jpg
 | width2 = 140
 | footer = Modern Monokini designs range from bikini bottoms only (left) to single-piece swimwear with cutouts (right)
}}

[[File:Jiriruzek net 2010 Vinohrady.jpg|thumb|Woman wearing a monokini, 2010]]
[[File:Minimale Animale Runway Show-5.jpg|right|thumb|The statement of the monokini made by Minimale Animale on the runways of [[Mercedes-Benz Fashion|Mercedes Benz Fashion Week]] in 2014]]

Going topless reached its highest popularity during the 1970s. In the early 1980s monokini designs that were simply a bikini-bottom (also known as the '''unikini''') became popular.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maynard|first=Margaret|title=Out of Line|page=156|year=2001|publisher=University of New South Wales Press|location=Sydney, New South Wales, Australia|isbn=0868405159}}</ref> {{as of|2015}}, some swimsuit designers continue to produce a variety of monokini or topless swimsuits that women can wear in private settings or in places where topless swimsuits are allowed.<ref name="everything"/>

Unlike Gernreich's original design exposing the women's breasts, more modern designs are [[one-piece swimsuit]]s that cover the women's breasts but typically include large cut-outs<ref name="LoveToKnow">{{cite web|url=http://swimsuits.lovetoknow.com/Monokini|title=Monokini|publisher=LoveToKnow|access-date=2008-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203060103/http://swimsuits.lovetoknow.com/Monokini|archive-date=2006-12-03}}</ref> on the sides, back, or front. The cutouts are connected with varying fabrics, including mesh, chain, and other materials to link the top and bottom sections together. From the back the monokini looks like a two-piece swimsuit. The design may not be functional but aesthetic.<ref name="Swim Trends">{{cite news|url=http://archive.azcentral.com/style/fashion/articles/2007/08/13/20070813swim08.html|title=Swimsuit trends for next spring|last=Wexler|first=Kathryn|date=July 17, 2007|work=[[The Miami Herald]]|access-date=2008-12-07}}</ref> Some suits are designed with a [[g-string]] style back and others offer full coverage.

=== {{anchor|Pubikini}} Pubikini ===

In 1985, four weeks before his death, Gernreich unveiled the lesser-known '''pubikini''', a topless bathing suit that exposed the wearer's ''[[mons pubis]]''.<ref>''Portraits: Photographs from Europe and America'' (2004) Klaus Honnef, Helmut Newton and Carol Squiers. page 21, Schirmer, {{ISBN|382960131X}}</ref><ref>Cathy Horn, "Rudi Revisited", ''The Washington Post'', November 17, 1991, page 3</ref><ref>Elizabeth Gunther Stewart, Paula Spencer & Dawn Danby, ''The V Book: A Doctor's Guide to Complete Vulvovaginal Health'' (2002), page 104, Bantam Books, {{ISBN|0-553-38114-8}}</ref> It was a thin, V-shaped, thong-style bottom<ref>{{cite book|title=Recent acquisitions: A Selection, 1985-1986 |editor=Ellen Shultz|date=1986|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|location=New York|isbn=978-0870994784|pages=48}}</ref> that in the front featured a tiny strip of fabric that exposed the wearer's [[pubic hair]].<ref name="Metrwax">{{cite web |author=overzero.com |url=http://www.metroland.net/guides/2007_sum_guide/sum_waxing.html |title=Bald is Beautiful |work=[[Metroland (newspaper)|Metroland]]|access-date=2012-11-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729120714/http://metroland.net/guides/2007_sum_guide/sum_waxing.html |archive-date=2012-07-29 }}</ref><ref>Elizabeth Gunther Stewart, Paula Spencer and Dawn Danby, ''The V Book'', page 104, Bantam Books, 2002, {{ISBN|0553381148}}</ref>  The pubikini was described as a ''[[pièce de résistance]]'' totally freeing the human body.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB1DA884A3D966C&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Catalog adds options for overweight girls], ''Denver Post'', 1992-01-02</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|fashion|nudity}}

* [[Bikini variants]]
* [[Maillot]]
* [[Monokini 2.0]]
* [[Nude beach]]
* [[Nude swimming]]
* [[One-piece swimsuit]]
* [[Topfreedom]]
* [[Toplessness]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Monokinis}}

{{Clothing}}

[[Category:Bikinis]]