Rudi Gernreich was an avant-garde designer whose works questioned the status quo of the fashion industry and often reflected his own political beliefs (Low 1/ Fig. 1). Born in 1922 in Vienna, Gernreich grew up within a non-religious Jewish middle-class family. Following his father’s death, Gernreich was raised mainly by his mother and aunt who ran a fashion salon in which she made copies of popular French designs (Felderer). Due to anti-Semitic violence and the rapidly approaching Nazi occu...
