This time next week, I’ll be in NYC, at the preview of the Charles James show at the Met.

It’s the Costume Institute’s annual exhibition, following on from last year’s Punk exhibit, the year before’s Prada/Schiaparelli, and 2011’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.

Say “Charles James” to most, and they look blank.

Confession: I’d guessed he was 19th century of something.

Nothing of the sort.

Charles James.

Born 1906. Died 1978.

British, but from 1940 a resident of New York, where his name was truly made.

A designer of wilful individuality.

And, it turns out, a right handful.

Here’s the excellent catalogue.

It features not just his remarkable designs, though they are legion, such as this from 1961:

Or this from the 1950s:

(I’ll post some frocks over the next few days and from the show, but it’s the outerwear that I find most startling)

The catalogue begins with a timeline of both his professional and personal life.

It’s a total hoot.

Here’s Charles James himself.

That’s a portrait of Charles James, or Charlie as he was known, by his childhood friend Cecil Beaton, from the late 1920s.

Like I said, a right handful.

Funny that I wrote about George Platt Lynes last week.

The two must have known each other.

I’m becoming increasingly fascinated with that era.

Hey!

In the run up to the Costume Institute show, let’s have a Charles James Fact Of The Day!

Taken from the amazing timeline of the Costume Institute catalogue.

Here’s today’s…

Charles James Fact Of The Day!

In 1924, when Charles James was 18, his family had the “hope of providing him with a business career”, and so arranged for him to get a desk job at Commonwealth Edison in Chicago.

His parents were friends with its founder and president, the industrialist Samuel Insull.

“Temperamentally unsuited for clerical work and undaunted by his powerful sponsor, James disrupts the office by showing off his batik-dyed silks he has been making to sell as beach wraps.”

End of today’s Charles James Fact Of The Day!

So amazing…

Totally think an understanding of his character is crucial to considering his clothes.

More tomorrow…