Charles James: Beyond Fashion

Koda, Harold and Jan Glier Reeder, contributions by Sarah Scaturro and Glenn Petersen, foreword by Ralph Rucci
2014
263 pages
315 illustrations
10 x 13 in.
BIGNY Book Show, Winner (2015)
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The 2009 transfer of the Brooklyn Museum’s costume collection to the Met’s Costume Institute created an unrivaled representation of the work of the Anglo-American designer Charles James. During his life James directed clients to donate their best examples of his designs to the Brooklyn Museum, intending to create a working collection to inspire students of fashion. Since coming to the Met, this unsurpassed collection has been enhanced by a number of significant acquisitions, including rare pre–World War II pieces and James’s archives of sketches, notes, photographs, and other ephemera. The archives were donated in 2013 by Homer Layne, James’s last studio assistant. That trove forms the basis of this catalogue and exhibition.

Mannequin, Charles James  American, cotton, wood, metal, paper, American
Charles James
ca. 1950
"Jennie", Charles James  American, metal, paper, wood, American
Charles James
Cavanaugh Model Form Co.
ca. 1950
Dress form, Charles James  American, plaster, American
Charles James
1949
Coat, Charles James  American, wool, cotton, American
Charles James
1956
Mannequin, Charles James  American, plaster, papier-mâché, wood, metal, American
Charles James
1955
Mannequin, Charles James  American, papier-mâché, metal, American
Charles James
1955
Muslin, Charles James  American, cotton, American
Charles James
ca. 1950
Muslin, Charles James  American, cotton, American
Charles James
ca. 1950
Mannequin, Charles James  American, cotton, synthetic, metal, paper, silk, wood, American
Charles James
ca. 1956
Evening coat, Charles James  American, silk, fur, American
Charles James
late 1920s–early 1930s
Dress, Charles James  American, silk, cotton, American
Charles James
early 1930s
"Taxi", Charles James  American, wool, synthetic, American
Charles James
ca. 1932
Dress, Charles James  American, wool, American
Charles James
ca. 1950
"Spiral", Charles James  American, silk, American
Charles James
ca. 1950
Dress, Charles James  American, silk, American
Charles James
1950
Evening dress, Charles James  American, silk, American
Charles James
1952
Evening dress, Charles James  American, silk/rayon, American
Charles James
1932
Evening dress, Charles James  American, rayon, American
Charles James
1933
Evening dress, Charles James  American, silk, American
Charles James
1937–38
Dinner dress, Charles James  American, silk, synthetic, American
Charles James
1939
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Koda, Harold, Charles James, Jan Glier Reeder, Sarah Scaturro, Glenn Petersen, and Ralph Rucci. 2014. Charles James: Beyond Fashion. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.