Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape - by Homer Layne & Dorothea Mink (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><strong>Avant-garde designs from "America's First Couturier"</strong></p><p>British-American designer Charles James (1906-78), "America's First Couturier," is famed for the extraordinarily elegant evening gowns he created in the 1930s through the 1950s for society ladies on both sides of the Atlantic. From the beginning of his career, James also designed revolutionary unisex styles. The famous eiderdown evening jacket, designed in 1937 for women, was revived as a cult unisex design object in 1970s New York. The eiderdown jacket and James' other unisex designs share with his ball gowns a sculptural, architectural presence and a rigorously cerebral design process grounded in science and mathematics. James is regarded as a visionary thinker in the world of fashion, introducing lasting innovations in both technique and methodology. <p/><i>Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape</i> goes beyond the evening gowns, focusing on some of James' unisex designs and his life in the artist community at the Chelsea Hotel, where he lived from 1964 until his death in 1978. He remained restlessly creative in this period, his rooms at the Chelsea serving as a studio, workshop, and archive. In 1973 he wrote <i>The Charles James Approach to Structural Design</i>; this allowed a glimpse into his thinking at that time and is included in this publication in facsimile. Edited by Homer Layne, James' last assistant, and Professor Dorothea Mink, with a preface by fashion designer Rick Owens, this volume reveals a new facet of James' groundbreaking body of work.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>[Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape] delves deeply into the specifics of James' garment design and construction--even showing how to create his perfect dress forms--and includes a plethora of archival photographs.--Kathryn Maier "Quest"<br><br>Charles James counts as the first American couturier, having captured attention in the 1930's with extravagant evening wear and revolutionary Unisex styles.--Lea Egerer "Vogue: Germany"<br><br>Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape consists of 400 pages dedicated to James' androgynous fashions and the highly detailed design process behind them.--Sophie Shaw "CR Fashion Book"<br><br>Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape goes beyond the evening gowns, focusing on some of James' unisex designs and his life in the artist community at the Chelsea Hotel.-- "Arcana"<br><br>Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shape is a brilliant combination of text and visuals [...] The reader will be made privy to exactly how this incredibly intelligent and obsessive man created some of fashion's most iconic and revered dresses, coats, and gowns.--Jeffrey Felner "New York Review of Books"<br><br>For those who cannot time-travel to past museum exhibitions, ... this impressive volume acts as a kind of portable James archive and technical design manual.--Alyssa Vincent "Arlis/NA Reviews"<br><br>In the Joyce Gallery celebrating a new book about the English-American couturier Charles James, there was one archetypal dress: sculpted and elegantly shaped, it was the epitome of timeless elegance.--Suzy Menkes "Vogue"<br><br>The Couture Secrets of Shape proves how ahead- still ahead- James was of the times.--Jennifer Krasinski "Bookforum"<br>
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