Charles James

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Wilson Brega James (18 July 1906 – September 1978) was an English-American fashion designer.

He is best known for his ballgowns and his highly stylized look.

James is one of the twentieth century's most influential fashion designers, and he continues to influence younger generations of designers.

Early life

Ralph Ernest Haweis James, James' father, was a British army officer and tutor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Louise Enders Brega's mother, Louise Brega, came from a wealthy Chicago family. He was educated at The New Beacon in Sevenoaks, Kent, from 1914 to 1918. He attended Harrow School in 1919, where he met Evelyn Waugh, Francis Cyril Rose, and Cecil Beaton, with whom he developed a long lasting friendship. He was banned from Harrow after a "sexual escapade."

James briefly studied music at the University of Bordeaux in France before heading to Chicago to work. Samuel Insull, a good friend of the family's, found a position in the architectural design department where he learned the mathematical skills that later enabled him to design his gowns.

James opened his first milliner shop in Chicago at the age of nineteen, using the name "Charles Boucheron" because his father had forbidden him to use the name of James.

Personal life

In 1954, James married Nancy Lee Gregory, 20 years his junior, from Kansas. They had a son and daughter. After the birth of their son, James created a children's range. In 1961, the marriage was annulled.

He migrated to Hotel Chelsea in 1964, where he had three sixth-floor rooms for his work space, office, and apartment. James died of bronchial pneumonia in 1978.

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Career

James sold his last possessions, a Pierce Arrow, and a collection of hats in 1928, when he left Chicago for Long Island. He opened a millinery shop above a garage in Murray Hill, Queens, New York, beginning with his first dress samples. He marketed himself as a "sartorial structural architect" at the time. He had designed the spiral zipped dress and the taxi jacket by 1930 (too convenient to wear it in a taxi's backseat).

James van de Bruton, a New York City resident, has opened a Mayfair shop. For Baba Beaton's sister's wedding to Alec Hambro on November 6, 1934, he crafted the wedding dress for her. With a raised neckline and divided train, James created a modern spin on the white wedding gown. In 1936, he founded Charles James (London) Ltd., a company that used his own name for the first time.

In the early 1930s, James spent time in Paris, working from the Hôtel Lancaster. In 1937, he presented his first collection in the French capital. He made a one-of-a-kind white satin quilted jacket that Salvador Dali called "the first soft sculpture" in the Victoria and Albert Museum collections that same year. "Anoraks, space man, and even fur jackets are among the jackets that have been regarded as the starting point for "anoraks, space man, and even fur jackets." He also invented the Pavlovian waistband, which expands after a meal in the 1930s.

In the meantime, he licensed his fashion ideas with American department stores, such as Lord & Taylor and Bergdorf Goodman.

In 1939, James moved to New York, where he founded Charles James, Inc. After the Second World War, he created Elizabeth Arden's clothing line.

In 1947, James held a show in Paris. Millicent Rogers presented an exhibit of the clothes he fabricated for her at the Brooklyn Museum in the following year, titled "A Decade of Design for Mrs Millicent H. Rogers by Charles James." Cecil Beaton shot eight of James' Vogue photographs in 1948.

James spent the majority of his time in New York City in the early 1950s at his Madison Avenue workshop. In 1950 and 1954, he received two Coty Awards, as well as one in 1953, named Neiman Marcus Award. Austine Hearst's journalist created the "Four-Leaf Clover" or "Abstract" ballgown that year. It was James' best creation when it was ranked as his best creation. This dress weighed no less than 12 pounds and had to be supported by a rigid framework.

James is best known for his sculpted ball gowns made of luxurious fabrics and to strict tailoring requirements, but he is also remembered for his capes and coats, often with fur and embroidery.

Arnold Scaasi worked with James for two years. Scaasi was notably in charge of the ready-to-wear collection. After James left, the line was discontinued and relaunched special designs for American departments, which would produce and sell them.

Dominique de Menil's home in Houston designed the interior and several pieces of furniture.

In 1958, James retired.

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