Coat
This short coat or jacket is similar in concept to late nineteenth-century dolmans, which were capelike wraps with sleeves. The prototype for James’s design was a cape for his infant son, Charles Jr. It had elliptically cut armholes to help the child orient his arms upward instead of splaying outward. When the designer adapted the style for adults, he replaced the infant’s sleeve pattern with one derived from the connecting elbow joint of a sewer pipe.
Artwork Details
- Title: Coat
- Designer: Charles James (American, born Great Britain, 1906–1978)
- Manufacturer: Textile manufactured by F. Ducharne Silk Company
- Date: 1956
- Culture: American
- Medium: wool
- Credit Line: Purchase, Costume Institute Benefit Fund, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, and Acquisitions Fund, 2013
- Object Number: 2013.410
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Charles James
1954–55
Charles James
ca. 1956
Charles James
1956
Charles James
1940–1959
Charles James
1940–1959
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