Gay activist and designer
Rudi Gernreich may not be as well-known as Dior, Gucci, or CourrĂ©ges, but admittedly, he’s a subdued style icon who transformed the face of fashion with his minimalistic 1960s “mod” style. Gernreich is best remembered for his topless “monokini” swimsuit
modeled by his premier muse Peggy Moffitt.
The monokinis are visual products of Gernreich’s notion of freeing the body. The world took notice of this extreme from a “widely misunderstood fashion prophet,” and the
Roman Magnus
Stylebook eventually saw the monokini swimsuit as a fixture of androgynous fashion, sported by men as quirky as
Borat and as sophisticated as Armani ramp models. Also known as mankinis, monokinis are seen under the fashion dome as a hot mess, a methane-high detachment from common Speedos or boxer shorts.
Being the fruitions of Gernreich’s radical beliefs, monokinis represent a conduit between social statement and modesty. The swimsuit comes in different styles, cuts, and patterns which could be teamed up with a pair of boardshorts and the like for more covered and edgy but decent interpretations.
The bespoke one-piece has re-launched a sort of liberation movement that
uses the profoundness of fashion as activism. Monokini-wearing men
believe that they’re freeing themselves from all sorts of conventions
and that they have to own up to their taste despite the public’s overt
prejudice.
Access the Roman Magnus Stylebook on this blog and get familiar with the unchartered territories of fashion.