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THE RUDI GERNREICH BOOK |
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1953, first tube dress. (photograph © Alex dePaola) For Westwood, Gernreich introduced wool-knit maillots elasticized to follow the body instead of pushing it up and out. Harper's Bazaar's Diana Vreeland saw them and responded with this telegram to Gernreich: ". cannot tell you how beautifully made, how beautifully designed and how much we adore them. We hope, ifwe can possibly arrange it, to place them in the first suitable spot." One of those first knitted suits, a tweed maillot with a low V neckline and five-button front was reinterpreted by Gernreich as late as 1959. Buyers knew it first as Style Number 6001, later as Style 601. In 1969 the suit was copied by a Coty Award-winning designer. Gernreich commented, "When a manufacturer does a version of something I've designed, that's very good. It's always a confirmation. When a name designer knocks off one of my bestknown swimsuits, that's outrageous." As late as 1990, Style 601 was still resurfacing in other designers' lines, offering renewed confirmation of Gernreich's talent and of his designs' longevity.
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