Kilmer House

Eight models wearing Charles James gowns, in French & Company's eighteenth century French paneled room. Charles James Ball Gowns, 1948. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph by Cecil Beaton/Vogue/Condé Nast Archive. Copyright © Condé Nast. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York just launched Charles James: Beyond Fashion, a new exhibit at its Costume Institute.  James, one of the 20th century’s most innovative fashion designers, was a man ahead of his time.  Some of his gorgeous dresses were featured in a series of ads by Johnson & Johnson during the 1940s that sol