Peggy Moffitt, the actress and model who became a mod icon in the 1960s with designer Rudi Gernreich’s famous topless swimsuit and other daring looks of the era, died on Saturday in Beverly Hills. She was 86 years old.
Her son, Christopher Claxton, told the New York Times that she died from complications of dementia.
Moffitt’s husband, the well-known photographer William Claxton, took the photo, which caused a sensation because of its daring design: a swimsuit held up only by thin straps and without a top. The 1964 photo, published first in Look and then in a more explicit version in Women’s Wear Daily, was banned in some countries, even though Moffitt’s arms covered her breasts in some poses.
The actress and model was working at a trendy Beverly Hills boutique that sold pop art fashions when Gernreich asked her to pose. However, she stated that she would never wear the swimsuit in public. At a time when bikinis were just becoming acceptable, his monokini was considered quite scandalous, although she later said, “It was a political statement. It was not meant to be worn in public.”
Born in Los Angeles, she wanted to be an actress. She took classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where Sydney Pollack was an acting teacher. Her first film role was an uncredited appearance in “You’re Never Too Young.”
Paramount Pictures signed her and she appeared in the films “Senior Prom” and “Girls Town”.
Moffitt’s previous roles included Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, where she played a model in the 1966 classic about a fashion photographer.
Her other film roles included Franco Rossi’s 1962 LA-set cult film “Smog”, the French fashion satire “Who Are You, Polly Magoo?”, an episode of “Batman” in which she played Gernreich’s runway model, and the short fashion film “Basic Black”.
The models in “Blow-up” were Jill Kennington, left, Melanie Hampshire (kneeling), Ann Norman, Peggy Moffitt and Rosaleen Murray.
Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Although Moffitt did not look like a conventional high-fashion model, her striking hairstyle and makeup fit perfectly with the colorful, modernist designs of the era.
She influenced fashion again when she appeared on the cover of Time magazine with a strictly geometric bob by Vidal Sassoon.
Moffitt married William Claxton, famous for his photographs of jazz musicians, in 1959; he died in 2008. She leaves behind a son.
