Basic Black

In 1967, the holy trinity of 1960's fashion collaborated on a short film.

Produced and directed by William Claxton, 'Basic Black' featured models Peggy Moffitt, Leon Bing and Ellen Harth working it in Rudi Gernreich's fabulous mod fashions.

Claxton wrote of the experience:

“In 1967 Peggy and I had just returned from 'swinging London' and Paris to work in New York. We were commissioned by a small commercial production company to come up with something which would serve as my 'reel' in order to get hired to direct TV commercials. While sitting on our bed at the Algonquin Hotel, we collaborated in writing a shooting script that would show fashion, makeup, and hair on three beautiful models wearing the fashion designs of avant-garde Rudi Gernreich’s collection for that fall. We shot the film on a weekend, had original music composed for the sound track and 'Basic Black' was born. It was very well received, won several awards and has been referred to as the first fashion video.”

I just love the ultra-groovy music...!

image: wwd.com