![]() He charged astronomical prices that shocked even the most well-heeled socialite, and once spent $20,000 on perfecting the fit of a sleeve. Not many could cope with his prices, either. James once dismissed a prospective customer with the words, “I couldn’t possibly make anything for a frump like you.” Legendary photographer Cecil Beaton attended Harrow with James, and wrote in his diary: “His talent was marvellous his wit bitter… No one could cope with his temperament for long.” His talent was tempered by a foul temper and a mean streak. He beat Diane von Furstenburg to the wrap dress by about four decades – the Taxi dress, held together with a few hooks, was envisioned to be so simple a woman could slip it on in the back of a cab. His inventions included a down-filled puffer jacket (which Dali applauded as a “soft sculpture”) and an early version of the sports bra. His persistence and dedication were the stuff made of legends: he sometimes locked his staff into the studio overnight if he thought they weren’t working hard enough.īut it wasn’t just old-fashioned ball gowns and frocks: James was also an inventive visionary. If not for his technical wizardry, his dresses would have been unwearable – but society ladies glided across the dancefloor with ease. He mixed velvet, satin, taffeta and tulle and was a master of cut and cloth. (It also looks, when viewed from above, exactly like a four-leaf clover.) A 2011 show at the Chicago History Museum resorted to CT-scan technology to explain how his dresses worked.Ī master manipulator, James was also combining textiles and distressing materials long before it became trendy. His masterpieces were often unfathomably complex: his most iconic dress, the Clover Leaf ball gown, weighed ten pounds and used thirty pattern pieces alone. (Coco didn’t have to pay, but Elsa did.)īut James wasn’t just a dressmaker to the stars he saw himself as an artist and a sculptor. ![]() Even other designers came running: Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel put in orders for his creations. As he once told a friend, he took to fashion “out of a compulsion to be involved in a business of which my father disapproved”.Īs he leapt from hat-making to dresses, he was championed by Diana Vreeland and dressed the crème de la crème of American high society, including Hollywood stars like Marlene Dietrich. ![]() In the 20s, the openly gay designer moved to Chicago to escape the wrath of his homophobic father, beginning his career as a milliner to society ladies of the Windy City. James is often cited as America’s first (and greatest) couturier, though he was actually British and was born in 1906. “To the fashion specialist, everyone knows him, but to the audience at large, he is one of those names that, because he doesn’t have a surviving label or brand, is forgotten', says Harold Koda, curator in charge at the Costume Institute. Christian Dior called him the “greatest talent of my generation”, and the basis for Dior's revolutionary New Look. He’s the new subject of the Metropolitan Museum’s annual fashion exhibition, and his work is meant to inspire the celebrities who will flock to the red carpet for tonight’s Met Gala. Many historical references in shapes and construction, especially the drapery forms of the 1870s and early teens, are also prevalent throughout his work.Cristóbal Balenciaga praised him as the “only one in the world who has raised dressmaking from an applied art to pure art”. Many of his pieces are conceived asymmetrically and possess a sense of movement and vitality that is a signature characteristic of his work. Also a perfectionist, he worked for years on refining certain seam lines, shapes and constructs that particularly expressed his vision of artistry through rigorous engineering. A master of the relationship between form, color and texture, he often heightened the drama of his evening wear by combining several like fabrics of different colors, or different fabrics in like colors but with different light reflective qualities. He manipulated fabrics into dramatic shapes using complex seaming and sometimes complicated understructures to create his singular vision of timeless elegance. ![]() James saw himself as an artist and sculptor of dress rather than a dressmaker. Personally draping and constructing the garments that bear his label, he is considered to be the only American to work in the true couture tradition. It peaked between the late 1940s and mid- 1950s, when his scarce and highly original gowns were sought after by society's most prominent women. Charles James produced some of the most memorable garments ever made.
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