Charles James : portrait of an unreasonable man : fame, fashion, art / Michèle Gerber Klein ; foreword by Harold Koda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerber Klein, Michèle, author.

Contributor:

Koda, Harold, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fashion designers--United States--20th century--Biography.

Fashion designers.

James, Charles, 1906-1978.

James, Charles.

Schiaparelli, Elsa, 1890-1973.

Schiaparelli, Elsa.

Rosse, Anne Messel, Countess of, 1902-.

Rosse, Anne Messel.

Arden, Elizabeth, 1878-1966.

Arden, Elizabeth.

Rogers, Millicent, -1953.

Rogers, Millicent.

Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987.

Warhol, Andy.

Menil, Dominique de.

Hearst, Austine McDonnell, 1918-1991.

Hearst, Austine McDonnell.

Lambert, Eleanor.

James, Nancy.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 254 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Rizzoli Ex Libris, an imprint of Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2018.

Summary:

"Inspired by the discovery of long-overlooked interviews conducted just before his death, this is the first biography of the visionary fashion designer Charles James. Christian Dior described him as the inspiration for the "New Look." Salvador Dalí called his work "soft sculpture," and Virginia Woolf exclaimed, "He is a genius." As George Bernard Shaw tells us, only unreasonable men change the world. This portrait of the life and times of Charles James--winner of two Coty awards, and the subject of a 2014 Metropolitan Museum of Art show--draws on the glamour of Europe in the 1930s, and the dazzle of New York City from the '40s through the '70s as it travels with James from his birth to privilege in England in 1906 and follows his career through his complex and turbulent relationships with exceptional women such as Elsa Schiaparelli and Eleanor Lambert, ending with his penurious death in New York's fabled Chelsea Hotel. As engrossing as a novel, as dramatic as grand opera, James's story will provoke, rivet, and inspire."--Inside dust jacket.

Contents:

In the beginning: between Europe and America

Art and invention: Elsa Schiaparelli

Fairy tales for the future: Anne, Countess of Rosse

Setting up shop: Elizabeth Arden

Immortality: Millicent Rogers

Beyond fashion: Modess, Andy Warhol, and Dominique de Menil

Apotheosis: Austine Hearst

Nemesis: Eleanor Lambert

The last muse: Nancy James

After all.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-232) and index.

ISBN:

9780847861453

0847861457

OCLC:

1027048603

Publisher Number:

99977547587