The Museum at FIT’s Dr. Valerie
Steele recently hosted a conversation with author Michèle
Gerber Klein and her new book Charles
James: Portrait of an Unreasonable Man: Fame, Fashion, Art.
Part of Gerber
Klein's nationwide tour,
the event was attended by more than 300 people. They listened
as Gerber Klein and Steele explored the
life of America’s first grand master of fashion, Charles
James - the man Christian Dior named as the inspiration for
the “New Look” and Cristóbal Balenciaga called “the greatest
couturier in the world”.
“James was
known for pushing the boundaries of fashion, but also for
his sharp tongue, drug problems, and grandiose ego," said
Gerber Klein. "One of the questions he asked himself,
‘How can I make a dress one could wear to make love in a
taxi?’ The answer came as the first wrap dress.
It was just one of his many significant innovations.”
In
addition to her talk at FIT, Gerber Klein has led
conversations about her book at the Fashion Institute of
Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, the Savannah
College of Art and Design, and the National Arts Club among
others.
She is the founder of
joan vass U.S.A., Vice President of the Liberman Foundation,
and is a member of The Couture
Council of The
Museum at FIT. She
has written about art, fashion and arts de vivre for a wide
variety of publications including Bomb and The Brooklyn
Rail.