Charles James foi um designer de moda anglo-americano considerado o primeiro costureiro de haute couture da América. Conhecido por seus esculturais vestidos de festa, influenciou nomes como Christian Dior, que dizia que James era "o melhor estilista de sua geração".
A nova exposição do Costume Institute, de NY, apresenta a mostra Charles James: Beyond Fashion, que explora a concepção das obras do estilista, com foco em seu uso de abordagens esculturais, científicos e matemáticos para construir peças revolucionárias e alfaiataria inovadora, que continuam a influenciar os designers de hoje.
Cerca de setenta e cinco dos projetos mais notáveis de James estão apresentados em dois locais - no novo Lizzie Tisch e Jonathan Galeria da Anna Wintour Costume Center, bem como nas galerias de exposições especiais no primeiro andar do museu.
Sua fascinação com corte complexo e emendas levou à criação de elementos-chave de seus projetos, onde peças como calças, saias, e acabamentos nas bainhas que envolvem o corpo e fazem determinado volume, por meio da construção, ganharam destaque. Estes, juntamente com seus vestidos de baile emblemáticos do final dos anos 1940 e início dos anos 1950 - o " Trevo de Quatro Folhas ", " Borboleta ", "Árvore ", "Cisne " e " Diamante ", podem ser vistos pelo público.
Depois do sucesso que fez em Londres e Paris, James chegou a Nova York nos anos 1940. Embora não tinha feito nenhum curso específico, foi considerado um dos maiores costureiros de sua época.
Charles James: Beyond Fashion
Metropolitan Museum of Art - NY
Até 10 de agosto de 2014
Charles James: Beyond Fashion
Charles Wilson Brega James was a British-born fashion designer known as "America's First Couturier." He is widely considered to have been a master of cutting and is known for his highly structured aesthetic.
The inaugural exhibition of the newly renovated Costume Institute examines the career of the legendary twentieth-century Anglo-American couturier Charles James (1906–1978). Charles James: Beyond Fashion explores James's design process, focusing on his use of sculptural, scientific, and mathematical approaches to construct revolutionary ball gowns and innovative tailoring that continue to influence designers today. Approximately sixty-five of James's most notable designs are presented in two locations—the new Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery in the Anna Wintour Costume Center as well as special exhibition galleries on the Museum's first floor.
The first-floor special exhibition galleries spotlight the glamour and resplendent architecture of James's ball gowns from the 1940s through 1950s. The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery provides the technology and flexibility to dramatize James's biography via archival pieces including sketches, pattern pieces, swatches, ephemera, and partially completed works from his last studio in New York City's Chelsea Hotel. The evolution and metamorphosis by James of specific designs over decades are also shown. Video animations in both exhibition locations illustrate how he created anatomically considered dresses that sculpted and reconfigured the female form.
After designing in his native London, and then Paris, James arrived in New York City in 1940. Though he had no formal training, he is now regarded as one of the greatest designers in America to have worked in the tradition of the Haute Couture. His fascination with complex cut and seaming led to the creation of key design elements that he updated throughout his career: wrap-over trousers, figure-eight skirts, body-hugging sheaths, ribbon capes and dresses, spiral-cut garments, and poufs. These, along with his iconic ball gowns from the late 1940s and early 1950s—the "Four-Leaf Clover," "Butterfly," "Tree," "Swan," and "Diamond"—are showcased in the exhibition.
