Zac Posen Rumored to Take Over Charles James
Zac Posen. Photo: Steven Pan
Following last year’s Costume Institute gala, which celebrated the opening of Charles James: Beyond Fashion, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein announced that he was planning to revive the storied label.
"Charles James was one of the most incredible couturiers in the history of fashion and this label deserves to be a household name in the same ranks as Chanel, Dior and Oscar de la Renta,” said Weinstein in a press release at the time. “There isn’t a single designer in high fashion who wouldn’t name him as a major influence. We are beyond thrilled to be spearheading the revival of this brand and bringing it back to the world’s finest retailers.”
While Weinstein’s wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, was generally assumed to be the creative lead for the project, Page Six reported today that Weinstein is planning to hire Zac Posen for the job.
This makes total sense to us. Posen has always been a precocious designer who likes to create gowns for women (as opposed to dresses for girls). His pieces, which have been worn by everyone from Lena Dunham to Naomi Campbell, are sculptural works of art just like James’s iconic frocks and incidentally, the most requested gown worn at that MET Gala that year. If Weinstein does indeed hire Posen for this position, it won't be the first time he's hired the designer. Posen currently stars as a judge on the hit show Project Runway, where Weinstein is an Executive Producer.
It is also worth noting that this is not the first time that Weinstein has ventured into the fashion realm. In 2007, he brought back Halston, enlisting Rachel Zoe and Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon to serve as creative consultants and Marco Zannini (who recently left Schiaparelli) to design. That experiment died on the vine—Weinstein extricated himself in 2011, even the appointment of Sarah Jessica Parker couldn’t bring the label back to life—but at least the pieces were wearable jersey dresses. What will a Zac Posen for Charles James gown look like? Probably quite a bit like his current eponymous line which is great for societal grand dames. The rest of us will admire from afar.
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