One story not included in \u201cCharles James: Portrait of an Unreasonable Man\u201d by Mich\u00e8le Gerber Klein is the time that the debonair British-born fashion designer was taken to a seedy sex club \u2014 and had a great time.<\/p>\n
At Wednesday\u2019s book signing at Rizzoli, Harold Koda \u2014 who curated the 2014 James show at the Met\u2019s Costume Institute \u2014 said Klein had enough stories about James for a sequel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the lurid and salacious stuff \u2014 maybe it\u2019s the stuff that couldn\u2019t be proven \u2014 is missing,\u201d Koda said.<\/p>\n
Publicist R. Couri Hay \u2014 who befriended James during his lean, last years at the Chelsea Hotel \u2014 recalled at the dinner later at Bouley Test Kitchen how one night Prince Egon von Furstenberg took him and James to a place in the Meatpacking District.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out to be a sex club,\u201d Hay said. \u201cCharles disappeared into a back room, and we were getting worried, but he came back with a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hay recorded 40 hours of James\u2019 recollections that he shared with Klein and donated to the Met, along with more than 200 of James\u2019 drawings.<\/p>\n
Describing James\u2019 lifestyle, Klein said, \u201cHe lived in hotels a lot. He ordered from room service and he didn\u2019t pay his bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd included Adelaide de Menil, Freddy Eberstadt and costume designer William Ivey Long, who said he used to type angry letters for James because James didn\u2019t own a typewriter.<\/p>\n